(InvestigateTV) — For Brittany Bur, having her little sister Ashley Bur, 39, in their New Jersey home is both a relief and a heartbreak.
A relief, because she’s by her side.
“We can see her and we can oversee her care,” Brittany Bur said.
It was heartbreaking because Brittany and their mother, Cynthia Rowberg, felt they had no choice but to bring Ashley home.
“Have I given up on the system? Yes,” Cynthia Rowberg said. “Because there is no chain of command. There is no place to go to really answer your questions.”
Ashley is nonverbal and has been since birth.
“Can’t sit, walk, talk. Has a very, very limited language,” Rowberg said.
Because of her condition, Ashley needs around-the-clock care. However, finding that care, her family says, has sometimes felt more like a nightmare.
Over the years, Ashley’s family claims there have been mysterious injuries, unexplained bruising and medical emergencies, with little to no explanation from multiple facilities entrusted with Ashely’s well-being.
After several years of bouncing from facility to facility, Rowberg placed Ashley in a New Jersey Group home for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities just days before the pandemic began in 2020.
“And the caretakers kept saying, ‘Oh, she’s just tired. She’s tired.’ And we knew that there was something much more concerning,” Bur said.
Then, the family says they believe Ashley was given far too much sodium, which posed a threat to her life due to her medical conditions. The group home sent Ashley to the hospital in a medical transport van, with Bur and Rowberg following behind.
“The nurses couldn’t believe like her, overall mental status,” Bur said.
Our national investigative team reached out to the group home for answers. They replied that the matter had been investigated by the state and none of the allegations of neglect made by Rowberg and Bur were substantiated.
However, the family said they have no idea about the specifics of the investigation.
In an email exchange provided by the family, a representative of the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities informed Cynthia that incident reports are “confidential documents that can only be released with a judicial order.”
“I feel hopeless. I feel helpless. I feel like the state of New Jersey has failed my child so miserably, that I don’t want to stay here,” Rowberg said.
As a mother, Rowberg believes she has a right to know the outcome of her daughter’s investigation.
“So, when this involves my child, why wouldn’t I be able to see it? Was there even really an investigation? Did you ask more than one or two questions?” Rowberg said.
Bur and Rowberg said they not only want accountability, they also want transparency, a better system for addressing staffers with histories of complaints and above all, they want empathy.
“You feel defeated. Like every little thing is a battle. And you feel very alone,” Bur said.
Their family is not alone. Federal watchdog documents show that persistent problems have plagued group homes nationwide for years.
In 2018, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services partnered with other government agencies to investigate cases of abuse and neglect for people living in group homes nationwide.
A series of audits found that people often experienced serious injuries and medical conditions that resulted in emergency room visits.
They also found up to 99% of these critical incidents were not reported to the appropriate law enforcement or state agency.
To address “systemic problems nationwide,” the federal report recommended a series of best practices for states to follow to help improve their critical incident reporting, including creating registries that list direct service providers who have been identified as the perpetrator in substantiated incidents of abuse, neglect or exploitation.
InvestigateTV contacted every state to determine which ones maintain a registry for workers accused of abuse or neglect. As of mid-January 2025, 23 of the 29 states that responded to our inquiry have abuse registries, but only six said they are available to the public.
For example, Ohio’s registry contains names, abuse types, and criminal outcomes, while states like New Mexico and New Jersey keep their registries confidential. Others lack registries altogether.
“Well, who are we protecting?” Rowberg questioned.
“I think that it should be public everywhere and it should be uniform across the nation,” Bur said.
Paul Aronsohn is the New Jersey Ombudsman for Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities and their families.
“A lot of the reports that are done about allegations of abuse and neglect are confidential. Oftentimes, the family can’t even access them. To me, that’s such a missed opportunity because aside from the fact that the family deserves to know what happened and what didn’t happen, it could be very useful educational tools,” Aronsohn said.
Aronsohn has known Ashley’s family for several years and has stood by dozens of families like hers. Families who also feel that their cases go unheard or ignored.
In his most recent report, Aronsohn identified 6 of the most challenging issues impacting those with intellectual disabilities, with abuse and neglect at the top of the list.
Aronsohn’s report also found that a major part of the problem with abuse and neglect in group homes stems from staffing shortages.
“The direct support professionals help ensure that an individual lives a good and safe, full life in the community, but we don’t pay them enough. We know that if we pay these professionals a professional living wage, we can hold them to higher standards and we’re not going to have as much abuse and neglect in the system,” Aronsohn said.
InvestigateTV combed through dozens of group home job listings nationwide to see what the general qualifications are for being a direct care worker. One ad in North Carolina required candidates to have personal care/dementia experience and at least three years of experience working with people with developmental disabilities. The part-time position offered $14 to $15 an hour.
Another ad for a job in New Hampshire offered up to $20 an hour. Applicants needed a high school diploma or GED. No other experience is necessary.
“We’re setting the individuals, we’re setting the system up for failure,” Aronsohn said.
Even with Ashley now home, Bur and Rowberg have struggled to find qualified workers. A challenge, the women said, remains a constant issue.
“In the month that she’s been home, we’ve lost two caretakers,” Bur said.
For now, they will continue taking care of Ashley at their home, taking her on walks and keeping her in plain sight while they continue to try and get answers from the state and fight for better care and transparency for all families.
InvestigateTV reached out to the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities. They declined our request for an on-camera interview, saying they do not comment on individual cases, but stated that all allegations are taken seriously and investigated.
Following our inquiries, the state has reached out to Ashley’s family to review files from the 2020 investigation – a step they had not taken before.
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