PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon’s Department of Human Services is facing a federal class action lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland, alleges 5 people had their civil rights violated after in-home care hours for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were cut.

The cuts began within the last 7 months, and have impacted “virtually every person in Oregon,” according to the lawsuit.

When the cuts were announced to recipients, the lawsuit alleges that DHS “supplied no individualized explanation for those cuts, justifying them only by citing to an opaque needs assessment tool…The arbitrary manner in which they were notified of the slashed supports, without a meaningful explanation of the reduced supports violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs include a 9-year-old boy who has autism spectrum disorder, a 28-year-old man who has autism, a 34-year-old man who had autism, and a 21-year-old woman who has cerebral palsy.

The lawsuit also includes some of the family members who provide care.

“The reduction in services to people with disabilities also puts some members of the class at serious risk of segregation and isolation,” according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs claim that the state would pay for full-time care for any person forced into a nursing home or residential placement by these cuts, but denies that same level of care in the community, where “the care would be cheaper and more effective,” according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers argue the cuts prevent people who live at home from going out into the community because they cannot go without adequate behavioral supports.

In a statement, the Oregon Department of Human Services’ Office of Developmental Disabilities Services said:

“We are unable to comment on pending lawsuits.

The vision of services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the state is to have a system of supports that are easy to use and responsive to the strengths, needs and direction of the people and families who live as valued members of their community.

ODDS is working with its community partners, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families to improve and combine the various tools used to assess people’s needs into one tool that is simple to use, informs support plans and guides service authorization.”

DHS also has a website that explains some of the assessment changes.

Additionally, the agency posted a video to YouTube in August 2016 with ODDS director Lilia Teninty who explains that Oregon learned that the old versions of the assessment programs could end in a number of hours that are more than were needed to meet an individual’s needs.

“The new version will end in a number of hours that we have found meets most individual’s needs,” according to DHS.

Read the entire lawsuit: