The Caffry family in Waitsfield recently moved their 25-year-old Duncan into an intentional living community for folks with developmental challenges, finding a safe haven for him with peers where he is safe, challenged, cared for and happy.
It wasn’t the easiest thing that Jim and Amy Caffry did, but it was worth it and they are fully committed to this community, Riverflow which they helped develop on 30 acres in Monkton.
The Caffry’s son Duncan was diagnosed with regression onset autism when he was 20-months old. Overnight his parents watched him lose his verbal ability and go from being able to speak 60 words at his 18-month check up to two or three.
“It was like invasion of the body snatchers. We didn’t know what to think,” Amy Caffry recalled.
EXCELLENT SUPPORT
She said that the family received excellent support from the local school system and that Duncan went through Waitsfield Elementary School with incredible support. But at a certain point, in the public school system, he did not and they explored and ultimately found a private residential school in Pennsylvania where Duncan was a good fit.
But it was not easy. Amy sobbing all the way home after they first dropped him off and cried every time she left him there.
Over the following two decades the family, including 23-year-old Emma and 20-year-old Molly, worked with the public school systems, post-graduate state programs, residential programs and summer programs to help Duncan grow up with a peer group and the appropriate supports.
What became obvious, and something the Caffrys and other families in similar situations faced, was the fact that there were not enough different types of supports and living situations for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Amy, an educator and Jim, an attorney, also became increasingly aware of their own mortality and the need to set Duncan up with a plan and a place and a lifestyle that worked for him as well as their daughters.
They were not alone in Vermont and in this need. They met and teamed up with Elizabeth Campbell with a goal of creating an intentional community where residents/friends lived with support staff and enjoyed meaningful activities, relationships and had the supports they needed to live with dignity.
NOT A SPEEDY PROCESS
It was not a speedy process and it required all their collective skill sets to find an appropriate property, apply for and receive grants, create a nonprofit, attain state certification (so the residents can receive state/federal funds) and develop Riverflow, which opened in October 2024 in an eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom farmhouse on 30 acres. Along the way they were joined by the Langins, a third founding family.
There the four founding friends, their son Duncan and three others, work on the farm, gathering eggs, working in the gardens and enjoying other activities. The founding families are not resting on their laurels, having placed their kids in a safe, supportive environment.
They’re working to develop a second home on the property, to be opened in 2027. The interest and the need is huge. As of this spring applications for admission to that second home are closed as they have exponentially more applicants than the four they have space for in that second home. A third home is planned and in 2027 they will reopen admissions for one of the openings in that house.
‘HUGE NEED’
“There’s such a huge need. We had 200 people show up at our open house last fall and our maximum build out plan for 10 years is to house 20 friends in five houses on that site. Riverflow may not be the answer for every person and family, but it’s one solution,” Caffry said.
“What it really shows, is that there’s a demand for alternatives to how adults with these types of disabilities are cared for. The farm model of our first Riverflow house may not be right for everyone and every family. People may need an urban model or a more active model. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but more of these types of solutions are definitely needed.
Learn more about Riverflow at https://www.riverflowcommunity.org/
