Who we are: Friends of Fircrest is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization advocating for the rights to quality living choices for all people with developmental disabilities. Friends of Fircrest provides support to residents of Fircrest School.
Our Recent Newsletters:
May-June 2008 (99 kB PDF)
March-April 2008 (114 kB PDF)
January-February 2008 (112 kB PDF)
November-December 2007 (335 kB PDF)
September-October 2007 (168 kB PDF)
July-August 2007 (145 kB PDF)
What is Fircrest School? Fircrest School
is a Washington State Residential Habilitation Center (RHC) for people with developmental disablities, located in the city of Shoreline, just north of Seattle (map). Fircrest offers habilitation services to its long term residents, and is able to offer various licensed professional services to clients with developmental disablities who are living outside Fircrest.
Who are the Fircrest School residents? Approximately 200 people with developmental disablities who call Fircrest their home. Here is more detailed information on the residents.
What services are offered to those residing outside Fircrest? Fircrest School is able to offer assistive technology, wheelchair modifications, dental and medical care, and other therapies that may not always be available from private vendors for people with developmental disablities. Do you have a family member who could benefit from these services? Here is the procedure for requesting services.
Admission to Fircrest or another RHC: Do you have a family member who could benefit from residing at Fircrest School? DSHS offers an application form for admission to an RHC. The form is available on the DSHS website in MS Word format only. Alternatively, as a convenience, you can download the same form here in either MS Word format (31 kB) or in PDF format (35 kB).
Professional services offered by Fircrest residents: The Adult Training Program (ATP) at Fircrest offers vocational training and employment opportunities to selected residents. Through this program, services are offered to local businesses at very reasonable prices, and the participating Fircrest residents are paid for their work. The offered services include mailing, sorting, packaging, and confidential document destruction. For additional information, please download the ATP flyer. (46 KB PDF)
Recent News
- August 13, 2007: Change could shrink pool of caregivers, by John Iwasaki, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- April 30, 2007: A step back for the disabled, by Kate Riley, Seattle Times Editorial. See also the Letter in response by Theresa Anderson, WA State Coordinator, Voice of the Retarded (VOR).
- April 22, 2007: Disabled youths again being sent to institution, by Maureen O'Hagan, Seattle Times. See also the Letter in response by Jim Hardman, President, Friends of Fircrest. And see a letters on the same topic in The Enterprise by Saskia Davis and Maria Walsh.
- March 23, 2007: Fircrest growth worries district, by Sarah Koenig, The Enterprise, Shoreline. Not really a worry, but a concern that the state provide the Shoreline School District with adequate funding to serve school-age minors at Fircrest.
- January 9, 2007: Governor Chris Gregoire delivers her State of the State speech. See her summary here. Or, read the full text here. While generally upbeat, the speech does not specifically address developmental disabilities issues.
- December 23, 2006: Governor's Proposed Budget Info for 2007-08 posted online. For a comparison of the Governor's and Agency proposals, see this link. For the Office of Financial Management's (OFM's) posting, see this one. For the OFM's specific entry on Developmental Disabilities, see here.
- November 11, 2006: Katie Dolan, a long-time activist on developmental disability issues has died. For more details of her life, see her obituary in the Seattle Times.
Significant events in 2005
(For more detail, see our
Significant events in 2005 page.)
- Friends participate in Shoreline Community outreach (Ongoing)
- Members attend King County Developmental Disabilities Legislative Forum (November 21)
- Friends makes invited presentation to Shoreline Rotary (October 26)
- Governor's Developmental Disabilities Residential Study Advisory Council appointed (September 20)
- Friends participates in Shoreline Community Parade and Festival (August 20)
- Friends participates in Funfest at Fircrest School (July 28)
- DSHS announces plans to close additional cottages at Fircrest School (July 19)
- A new long term resident is admitted to Fircrest (June 24)
- Seattle Times prints an unsigned editorial calling for Fircrest closure (June 22)
Later prints a rebuttal by Friends member Maureen Durkan
- DSHS acknowledges that Fircrest downsizing is completed (May 10)
- Fircrest School’s nursing facility once again is listed as one of America’s Top Nursing Homes (February 3)
- Friends of Fircrest members deliver information packets to all state legislators (January 19)
Significant events in 2004
(For more detail, and photos, see our
Significant events in 2004 page.)
- City of Shoreline Festival (August 21)
- Protest Rally at Lacey, WA (July 6)
- Parade & Rally in Support of Fircrest (May 15)
- Forced Moves of Fircrest Residents (February 25 - March 22)
- Native American Pow Wow (March 19)