New York Civil Liberties Union Files, 1973-1987

This series contains the New York Civil Liberties Union's files related to Willowbrook and the Consent Decree. It consists of court papers from primarily NYSARC and Parisi v. Rockefeller/Carey (United States District Court-Eastern District of New York, No. 72-C-356/357), the lawsuit filed by the New York State Association for Retarded Children and the parents or representatives of several Willowbrook Class members against New York State in the wake of Geraldo Rivera's TV news story. The materials are arranged chronologically, and may be divided into two periods: the pre-Consent Decree phase, 1973-1975 and the post-Consent Decree phase, 1977-1981.

The pre-Consent Decree materials (only four folders) contain documents relating to Judge Judd's 1973 ruling on the Willowbrook Class members' constitutional right to freedom from harm, as well as a copy of the 1975 Consent Decree in which New York State agreed to a new set of standards of care for the Willowbrook Class members, and to place most class members into the community.

The post-Consent Decree materials are the various lawsuits arising from disagreements between the WRP and the state over how to implement the provisions of the Consent Decree, either because the state found itself falling behind schedule or because the WRP issued recommendations the state regarded as unworkable. The first of these led to the March 10, 1977 Stipulation and Order on Consent, which dictated a timetable for placing Willowbrook Class members into the community, outlined the number and kinds of staff needed to carry out the community placement timetable, and ordered New York State to enter into contract with United Cerebral Palsy to have UCP run several buildings at Willowbrook. The ruling itself became the basis of subsequent litigation, as the Civil Service Employees Association sued the state on the grounds that the UCP contract violated collective bargaining agreements. Disagreements over the staffing of another body created by the Consent Decree, the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB), was also the basis for litigation. District Court rulings were sometimes appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and one reached the United States Supreme Court.

The series also contains several audits and reports issued by the Willowbrook Review Panel in a chronological arrangement of their own.