October 10, 2012

REP. FOX HONORED FOR WORK ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

State Representative Gerald Fox III is being honored by a coalition of organizations that advocate on behalf of people living with mental illness. The Keep the Promise Coalition has named Rep. Fox their Legislator of the Year for his work on protecting conservatorship and care options for persons with psychiatric disabilities.

“One of the most important responsibilities of government is to protect our most vulnerable citizens,” said Fox, House Chair of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee. “It is the legislature’s job to ensure those protections are clearly spelled out in state statutes.”

The Keep the Promise Coalition was formed in 1999 by families concerned the state was drastically cutting back on services and care available to both children and adults with mental illness. The result has been to force people into more expensive settings to taxpayers such as jails, homeless shelters and hospital emergency rooms. They cite a July 2000 report by the Governor’s Blue Ribbon on Mental Health as documenting the crisis.

Coalition sponsors include the Connecticut chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI–CT), the Salvation Army, the Center for Children’s Advocacy and the Disabilities Resource Center of Fairfield County.

Rep. Fox’s award is being presented Thursday, October 11 at the Keep the Promise Coalition annual award ceremony at the St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield.