Across New Jersey, thousands of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities live in state licensed group homes, putting their care and needs into what are expected to be capable hands.

But what happens when something goes wrong?

A new investigative report from NJ Advance Media looks at a case brought by a central Jersey family suing a special needs center over allegations staff abused, mistreated and neglected their daughter.

As reporter Sue Livio found, the family expected the state to hold those responsible accountable.

But two years later, they're still waiting.

Sue joins me now.

Sue Livio, we appreciate you sharing your reporting.

Obviously, this is a very sensitive topic for this family.

What specifically in their lawsuit are they alleging happened to their loved one?

The mother is alleging that her daughter, Leah, 18, at the time, was not provided the medical care that she needed to keep healthy.

She has a condition that causes severe acid reflux.

She is disabled enough where she needs people to give her her medication to brush your teeth regularly with medicated toothpaste.

They're alleging for a protracted period of time that none of this occurred and that her teeth rotted so badly that her nerves were exposed and that by the time that she was seen by medical professionals, none of her teeth could be salvaged and they were all removed.

In addition to that.

As you wrote, there were pictures shared where this young woman, Leah, was so malnourished it appeared that her ribs were clearly visible.

There were allegations that she was locked in her room at the group home, a rope tied to the nearby stairwell, the banister to keep her in there.

What happened when the family reported these instances to the police, to the state?

Well, the Ocean County prosecutor took a complaint right after she was removed from the group home.

She was evicted on February 2nd, 2022.

The prosecutor investigated.

Two weeks ago, told mom that there was not enough information to bring criminal charges, but that the case remained open.

Your investigation, though, showed that there were medical records.

There were text messages that staff members who asked to be kept anonymous shared with the family.

That was not enough for the state or the prosecutor's office to substantiate her allegations.

A Apparently not the.

And though the medical records were quite blatant, saying that there was no other explanation.

Where she could that could explain her loss of teeth, her weight loss.

She's a nonverbal, disabled, young woman, could not express her pain aside from acting out behaviorally being difficult when she saw her family.

She would rub her face and cry, but they didn't know what was wrong until a visit in January of 2022, where our sister was bathing her.

And that's when they took that picture where they saw her ribs were exposed, that they could see how malnourished she was.

Is this case indicative of a larger problem within the system?

Is that a reach?

I mean, what does the state say in response to this?

So there is an Ombudsman's office for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

And while the ombudsman is not commenting on this specific case, there is a larger issue, according to that office, about having and there being a very high bar for the Department of Human Services to corroborate and to substantiate abuse and neglect.

I've covered these issues for many years.

This is something that I've heard repeatedly.

Leah story was particularly egregious, but it is not alone.

Sue Livio is a reporter for NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.

Sue, thanks for your great reporting.

Thanks for your interest.