Client Rights

Updated November 1, 2021

Copies of the policy and procedure are available upon request.

Policy and Procedure 900

Complaints and Grievances:

A complaint is any concern of dissatisfaction related to any service or support provided or with an interaction with an employee, volunteer, or other person representing Boundless. When an individual served/family/advocate or other stakeholder has a complaint, they can report it any way that they are comfortable to any Boundless employee or the client rights officer (contact numbers and email listed in this document). Boundless employees are required to report complaints to their supervisor, manager, or client rights officer. Parties are encouraged to attempt to resolve complaints at the supervisory level closest to the issue at hand. Employees will assist the person filing the complaint by contacting the appropriate person or providing contact information, as needed (Examples: supervisors, managers, client rights officer). Employees may also assist individuals and their advocates in completing a Complaint Form found on the Boundless website. Complaints unable to be resolved within the program will be referred to the client rights officer at the number and email listed in this document.

A grievance is a formal complaint about an allegation of a rights violation of a person receiving services or supports from Boundless. When a person served, family/guardian/advocate is reporting an allegation of a rights violation, they can report it any way they feel most comfortable to any Boundless employee. Boundless employees are required to report rights violations to their supervisor or the client rights officer immediately or provide the client rights officer’s contact information (listed in the document) to the complainant. The Complaint/Grievance form can be found on the Boundless home page; however, grievances can also be filed by contacting the client rights officer directly. Grievances are responded to in steps with specific timelines outlined in the Complaint and Grievance Procedure.

The Complaint and Grievance Policy and Procedure is available upon request.

Individual Rights

The rights of individuals served are communicated to the person in an understandable way prior to the beginning of service delivery or at the initiation of service delivery, at least annually in a program that takes place longer than one year. Note this list of rights applies to all lines of service within Boundless, and while all individuals served have these rights, some are out of the control of Boundless service provision.

Individuals served by Boundless have the right:

• To be treated at all times with courtesy and respect and with full recognition of their dignity, autonomy, privacy, and individuality.
• To be treated equally as citizens under the law.
• To an appropriate, safe, and sanitary living environment that complies with local, state, and federal standards and recognizes the person’s need for privacy and independence.
• To be free from emotional, psychological, physical, and verbal abuse, neglect, mistreatment, exploitation, retaliation, inhumane treatment, and humiliation.
• To food adequate to meet accepted standards of nutrition.
• To participate in appropriate programs of education, training, social development, habilitation, and in programs of reasonable recreation.
• To practice the religion of their choice or to abstain from the practice of religion.
• To participate in decisions that affect their lives. To timely access to appropriate medical or dental treatment.
• To manage their personal financial affairs, based on individual ability to do so.
• To access necessary ancillary services, including, but not limited to, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, behavior modification, and other psychological services.
• To select a parent or advocate to act on their behalf.
• To receive appropriate care and treatment in the least intrusive manner.
• To confidential treatment of all information in their personal and medical records, except to the extent that disclosure or release of records is permitted under sections 5123.89 and 5126.044 of the Revised Code.
• To privacy, including both periods of privacy and places of privacy.
• To voice grievances and recommend changes in policies and services without restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination, or reprisal.
• To communicate freely with people of their choice in any reasonable manner they choose.
• To be free from unnecessary chemical, physical restraints, or seclusion (unless there is an immediate risk of physical harm to self or others.
• To ownership and use of personal possessions to maintain individuality and personal dignity.
• To participate in the political process.
• To social interaction with members of either sex.
• To research guidelines and ethics when people served are involved and the right to be informed or refuse to participate in medical, psychological, unusual, or hazardous treatment procedures or other research or experiments.
• To access opportunities that enable individuals to develop their full human potential.
• To access their records in sufficient time to facilitate the person’s decision-making unless access to certain information is restricted for clear treatment reasons. If access is restricted, the treatment plan shall include the reason for the restriction, a goal to remove the restriction, and the treatment offered to remove the restriction.
• To pursue vocational opportunities that will promote and enhance economic independence.
• To informed consent or refusal (including medication absent an emergency) or expression of choice regarding service delivery, the release of information, concurrent services, and composition of their service delivery team.
• To have access to legal entities for appropriate representation, self-help support services, and advocacy support services.
• To be advised and the right to refuse observation by others and by techniques such as one-way vision mirrors, tape recorders, video recorders, television, movies, photographs, or other audio and visual technology. This right does not prohibit an agency from using closed-circuit monitoring to observe seclusion rooms or common areas, which does not include bathrooms or sleeping areas.
• To the investigation and resolution of alleged infringement of rights.
• To participate in any appropriate and available service consistent with an individual service plan (ISP), regardless of the refusal of any other service, unless that service is a necessity for clear treatment reasons and requires the person’s participation.
• To receive services in the least restrictive, feasible environment.
• To participate in developing, reviewing, and revising one’s own individualized treatment plan and receive a copy of it.
• To be informed in advance of discontinuation of service provision and be involved in planning for the consequence of service discontinuation and a referral for further services as appropriate.
• To exercise one’s own rights without reprisal, except that no right extends so far as to supersede health and safety considerations.
• To receive an explanation of the reason for denial of services.
• To not be discriminated against for receiving services based on race, ethnicity, age, color, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental handicap, developmental disability, genetic information, human immunodeficiency virus status, or in any manner prohibited by local, state or federal laws.
• To file a complaint or grievance following the Complaint/Grievance policy, including to appeal a decision.
• To know the cost of services. To have oral and written instructions for filing a grievance, with assistance if requested.
• To be informed of one’s own condition.
• To be verbally informed of all individual rights and receive a written copy upon request.
• To consult with an independent treatment specialist or legal counsel at one’s own expense.

IAB has appointed a client rights officer. This individual can be reached Monday through Friday 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at (614) 844-3800 by speaking to the receptionist. You will be given a number to reach the IAB Clients Rights Officer. You can also leave a message at (614) 844-3800 extension 2362 or 3269. This message will be forwarded to the client rights officer.

The client rights officer can also be reached by email: rightsofficer@iamboundless.org