News Flash

Department of Developmental Services Notice on IPP/IFSP Process

The Arc of California recently issued a letter to individuals who have lost regional center services without an IPP/IFSP team meeting. Read on to find out more about how a new Department of Developmental Services advisory might help you to get those services restored.

Dear Friends,

If you, or someone you care for, lost services through a regional center without an IPP/IFSP team meeting since 2009 — and if you want the services restored — now is the time to ask for a team meeting to consider restoring them.

Likewise, if you are eligible for an exception or exemption to a categorical service cut, and you want the service back, you should consider asking for a team meeting now.

A planning team meeting now may — or may not – result in your services being restored. But it should give you a chance to try to restore them.

What's changed now is that the Department of Developmental Services has sent the regional centers an important notice as a result of a bill that The Arc sponsored and Assembly Member Wesley Chesbro authored in 2010. We sought the bill because some IPPs and IFSPs had been changed without the planning team meetings that the Lanterman Act requires.

At the end of the 2010 legislative session, at our request, Mr. Chesbro negotiated an agreement with the department. He withdrew consideration of the bill, and the department promised to notify the regional centers that the Lanterman Act planning process is still the law.

The department now has kept its promise and issued the notice, called an "advisory," reminding regional centers that the Lanterman Act procedures for changing IPPs and IFSPs "remain intact and must be followed."

The department's advisory notes that 2009 legislation "established new criteria for the purchase of some regional center services." This legislation was the Schwarzenegger administration's budget cut that we tried and failed to stop in the Legislature.

"However," the department's advisory states, "the person-centered/individualized planning process, which is the cornerstone of the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, was not changed as a result of this legislation.

"Decisions concerning the consumer's goals, objectives, and services and supports that will be included in the consumer's IPP or IFSP and purchased by the regional center or obtained from generic agencies shall be made by agreement between the regional center representative and the consumer or, where appropriate, the parents, legal guardian, conservator, or authorized representative at the program plan meeting," the advisory states.

It goes on to remind the regional centers that the law "also contains exemptions and exceptions to some provisions of law." Separate legislation adopted last year requires the regional center to tell you if you are eligible for an exemption to a categorical cut – usually for health and safety reasons. Mr. Chesbro also authored that legislation, sponsored by The Arc and Disability Rights California.

When you request an IPP or IFSP team meeting, remember that you have a right to invite anyone you want to be part of the team. This can include a service provider, a friend or relative, or anyone else you want. You never have to go to a team meeting alone, whether the meeting is in person or by phone.

Thanks to all of you who responded to our urgent pleas for support for the bill that brought this about. Our victory, though limited, shows that grassroots advocacy throughout the state coordinated with professional advocacy in the Capitol can pay off for our community. Sometimes.

Thanks, too, to Assembly Member Chesbro for authoring this important legislation, to Disability Rights California for their very strong support, and to the Department of Developmental Services for negotiating this agreement and then carrying it out.

And as always, thank you for your advocacy.

Greg

PS. Please forward this to anyone you know who might be able to use this information.

Greg deGiere
Public Policy Director
The Arc of California
1225 Eighth Street, Suite 350
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-552-6619, ext. 16
916-223-7319 (mobile)
916-441-3494 (fax)
www.TheArcCA.org

For additional assistance regarding Regional Center services contact Disability Rights California. Parents in Alameda County can also contact Family Resource Network's Family Advocacy Program for information and advocacy related to the IFSP process.

© 2011

Related Links:

A Consumer's Guide to the Lanterman Act

The Arc of California: Advocacy Alerts

The Lanterman Act

Rights Under the Lanterman Act

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