Man arrested after South Bend group home fire: Police say argument led to arson

South Bend Tribune              

On Sunday evening at about 9:30p.m., a 32-year-old South Bend man had an argument with his roommate.

The Tribune reported that both men were able to escape the fire without injuries and that today, the 32-year-old man was arrested for arson.

 Jeff Kinder, a service administrator for Partners in Opportunities, was interviewed by the Tribune and said that only the two men lived in the home and that the one man was being relocated.

 I’m disappointed to say, this was all that the article really said.  As a reader, I was left with several questions.  What is Partners in Opportunities? How long have they been in business? Are these types of occurrences normal?

The headline leads me to believe that Partners in Opportunities is a group home. I would have liked the Tribune to have provided a little more background about how the group home works. Was there someone assigned to look after them? How many hours are the residents in these homes allowed to be left unattended?  Who is typically in charge?

I’m sure every case is very different with each adult having varying degrees of mental and physical handicaps. I’m not sure what kinds of residents are able to live in the group home, possibly mentally or physically challenged adults.  I’m sure either the state or the private family pays to have the loved one in assisted living.  But again, who is assisting them?

What would have happened if the men hadn’t been able to get out of the home?  I wonder if the man who started the fire was able to comprehend what it was that he was doing.  Perhaps his mental reasoning skills are lacking, is it right that he is sitting in the Saint Joseph County Jail awaiting formal charges? 

Jeff Kinder spoke about plans to rebuild and to relocate the resident, but there was no mention of where his employee was at the time of the incident. Should someone have been in the home to prevent unpredictable things from happening? What is the policy for overnight care for these individuals?

My biggest frustration after reading this article is that someone else needs to be held accountable for what happened at the group home. The only one arrested in this incident is a 32-year-old man who cannot defend himself. I’m not sure of his IQ, his intent or his comprehension, but to live in an assisted living home, there should have never been a fight that got out of control enough that it led to a fire.

 I’m glad this incident didn’t have a more tragic outcome. But I hope the Tribune does a little more research and anticipate the questions that your readers might ask about a company that let this happen.