Developing Support, Service and/or Program Options – 14101

SERVICE POLICY GUIDELINES

DEVELOPING SUPPORT, SERVICE AND/OR PROGRAM OPTIONS

Tri-Counties Regional Center enhances the quality of life for persons with developmental disabilities by working with persons served and families to create and develop opportunities that will assure plan development. Tri-Counties Regional Center will develop service options that ensure that persons with developmental disabilities live fully and safely as active and independent members of their community.

Tri-Counties Regional Center will develop support and/or service options through a process that consists of assessing the need for specific types and levels of service arrangements; long and short-term planning for the development of such services within the catchment area; accessing funds which might be available for such purposes; and, implementing the plans which have been developed.

Tri-Counties Regional Center will develop support, service, and/or program options that:

• Enable persons with a developmental disability to live a more independent and productive life in the community;
• Enable persons with a developmental disability to approximate the pattern of everyday living available to non-disabled people of the same age;
• Prevent the person’s dislocation from family and community;
• Promote the most inclusive and least restrictive alternative and which provide an opportunity to live, learn, work, and socialize in environments that enhance an individual’s functional skills, productivity, independence, social support networks, and integration into general community life, with access to the full range of assistive technology;
• Are designed to assure physical health and safety, development of skills for independent living and productivity, relationships with families and friends, and a high quality of life for individuals, regardless of where they live;
• Are accountable, accessible, and culturally appropriate; that use person centered practices to identify each individual’s strengths and needs; that foster individual and family empowerment; that respect the choices and rights of participants; and, that involve individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in all aspects of development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of their supports and services;
• Respect and foster the relationship between persons served and their parents/family members;
• Allow minors with developmental disabilities to live with their families, adults with developmental disabilities to live as independently as possible in the community and that allow all individuals to interact with persons without disabilities in positive, meaningful ways; and,
• Most effectively meet an individual’s needs while making the most efficient use of public funds.

Tri-Counties Regional Center recognizes that when a person with developmental disabilities chooses a living arrangement other than his or her family home, several considerations are of critical importance. These include:

• The living arrangement provides optimal comfort and safety;
• The living arrangement includes quality care and supervision consistent with his or her need for care and supervision, or with appropriate supports and/or services when care and supervision are not
  needed;
• The Independent or Supported Living arrangement is a typical home or apartment with few, if any, other individuals residing there, unless the person chooses otherwise;
• The living arrangement includes opportunities to grow, learn, and socialize with non-disabled members of the community;
• The living arrangement offers reasonable access to his or her family and friends; and,
• If the individual chooses a licensed home, the staff demonstrates sensitivity to cultural differences by providing meals identified with the culture of the person, by celebrating the cultural or religious holidays of the residents, and by providing opportunities for the individuals to worship in the church or temple of their choice.

Tri-Counties Regional Center will maintain the availability of a reasonable number of diverse types of living arrangements to serve a large variety of needs within our service area. Every possible effort will be made to avoid over-concentration of living arrangements in any given geographic area or neighborhood.

Tri-Counties Regional Center will continually review and reassess the status of its alternative living arrangement resources in relation to changing individual needs and preferences. Tri-Counties Regional Center will draft a detailed resource development plan based on this review, at least annually. Tri-Counties Regional Center will develop only those living arrangements that meet or exceed the high standards of quality considered essential for the support of people with developmental disabilities.

Tri-Counties Regional Center will explore and develop living opportunities including Supported Living Services, Adult residential homes and Independent Living arrangements in partnership with adults, their families, and the service provider of choice. Such housing will be located in typical residential neighborhoods with reasonable access to community resources offering opportunities for inclusion and participation with non-disabled citizens. Tri-Counties Regional Center may develop affordable, permanent housing options, in partnership with the Tri-Counties Community Housing Corporation (TCCHC), TCRC’s non-profit housing corporation service provider. This TCRC/TCCHC partnership will support collaboration with public housing agencies, federal and state housing entities, the Section 8 rental program, and other non-profit housing organizations to maximize the potential for housing options for persons served by TCRC. TCRC will also support individuals living in homes which are purchased by the adult or their family member.

Tri-Counties Regional Center believes that persons served will achieve their highest potential if they are able to maintain contact with their family after they move to any alternative living arrangement. Therefore, every effort will be made to place an individual as close to their home community as possible.

As new residential programs are developed, persons served by Tri-Counties Regional Center will be given placement priority. As vacancies occur in any Tri-Counties Regional Center area facility that has a waiting list, priority will be given to the person from the local area.

Day programs should provide individuals the opportunity to have a pattern of life similar to non-disabled persons by providing them with planned activities to do outside of their home environment for a portion of each day. Therefore, one vendor or organization should not provide residential services and operate a day program on the same site. A residential program should not use staff to operate both the residential program and the day program at another site.

Under exceptional circumstances some individuals, because of their unique needs, may need the residential and day program at one site. Tri-Counties Regional Center will require programs that provide both residential and day program components at one site to meet additional performance, staffing ratio, and staff experience requirements that are designed to ensure individualization and intensity of programming. Tri-Counties Regional Center will require additional review of this necessity prior to the development of this program arrangement.

Approvals:

• 2013 08 09: DDS