Guiding Principles

Policies and Guidelines

The TCADD Board approves policies and guidelines to help planning teams make funding decisions when developing Individualized Program Plans (IPPs).  Click here for TCADD’s Policies and Guidelines.

Mission

TCRC provides person and family centered planning, services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities to maximize opportunities and choices for living, working, learning, and recreating in the community.

Vision

Persons with developmental disabilities live fully and safely as active and independent members of their community.

Code of Ethics

Tri-Counties Regional Center pledges to set the standard for professional conduct by acting ethically and with integrity in all matters. We know that acting ethically builds credibility, both within our organization and throughout the community within which we operate. The Board of Directors and all employees are committed to making TCRC an organization that delivers the highest possible value for the people we serve and our community. We will accomplish this with integrity by:

• Saying what we mean and meaning and doing what we say in a manner consistent with the values below
• Setting this standard to make a positive difference in the lives of the people we serve, and thereby in the lives of their families, our staff and our community partners
• By living by the values in our Code Of Ethics:

Values: TCRC aims to be a leader in setting the standard for ethical conduct by fully subscribing to the established codes of ethics for the relevant professions in our field, and by adhering to and applying the following core ethical values:

Trustworthiness
We will be truthful in all our dealings, and honest and forthright with one another and with the people we serve, their families, and our community partners. We will be sincere and candid, and have integrity in all our dealings. We will be reliable and avoid unclear and unwise commitments, and bad faith excuses.

Respect
We will treat one another with dignity and fairness, appreciating our diversity and the uniqueness of the people we serve, our employees, and our community partners. We will be civil, courteous, and decent, and we will exercise authority in a responsible way. We will tolerate differences of opinion and belief. We will honor the time of others as much as our own, and we will acknowledge the inherent worth and dignity of all people.

Responsibility
We will be accountable, and we will support people in having the highest quality of life possible by promoting choice, freedom and independence with consideration for their health and safety. We will be committed to organizational excellence by providing and exhibiting leadership in our field, by ensuring that we act with diligence in all we do, by seeking ways to improve our work, by modeling collaboration and teamwork, and by producing and delivering consumer-driven services with expected outcomes in a timely manner at a fair cost. We will be current in our professional knowledge and thorough in our work. We will honor our commitments, and show self-restraint when necessary.

Fairness
We will respect and protect individual rights, and to treat all people equally. We will follow all laws and regulations. We will have an open, impartial and prompt dispute resolution process. We will be fair and impartial in our dealings with the people we serve, our employees, and our community partners. We will report concerns, including violations of laws, regulations, ethical values and organizational policies, and we will seek clarification and guidance when in doubt.

Caring
We will show care, compassion and empathy towards the people we serve and their families, and have a genuine concern about the welfare of our co-workers and community partners. We will show gratitude, appreciation and support for each other. We will admit our mistakes, and resolve to avoid similar mistakes in the future. We will return gestures of reconciliation.

Civic Responsibility
We will work in partnership with our partners in service to our community, we will make family and community paramount, and we will act with pride and confidence in our community as representatives of TCRC.

Further, we will:

Uphold The Law: By conducting our business dealings in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations, recognizing that compliance with the law does not comprise our entire ethical responsibility, rather, it is a minimum, absolutely essential condition for the performance of our duties.

Promote A Positive Work Environment: By doing our best, with the help of all our staff, to create a workplace where employees feel respected, satisfied and appreciated. Harassment or discrimination of any kind and especially involving race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, size, age, national origin, disability, political affiliation, and veteran or marital status is unacceptable in our workplace environment. Providing an environment that supports the values articulated above makes the achievement of excellence possible. While everyone who works for TCRC will contribute to the creation and maintenance of such an environment, our executives and managers, and our Board, assumes responsibility for fostering a context for work that will bring out the best in all of us.

Promote A Safe Work Environment: By being committed to providing a drug-free, safe and healthy working environment. Each of us is responsible for compliance with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations and for reporting violations of such laws and regulations.

Avoid Conflicts Of Interest: By avoiding in practice or appearance favoritism, influence, or activity that might impair or appear to impair our ability to make fair and objective decisions and judgments while performing our work. By disclosing personal or professional relationships that may present a conflict of interest.

Maintain Confidentiality : By maintaining accurate and complete records, by making entries into case and other records that reflect the desires and preferences of the people we serve or are in partnership with, by avoiding in practice or appearance any misrepresentation of facts, or any falsification of records, and by understanding that to compromise confidentiality is illegal, that to misrepresent, withhold or falsify information is unethical and may be illegal, and that to hide behind confidentiality to avoid accountability is also unethical.

Address Conduct Inconsistent with Our Code Of Ethics: By remaining constant in promoting the values, principles and intent of the code and by actively involving the TCRC Ethics Council whenever a lack of clarity or conflict with the code is perceived.

We will apply our Code of Ethics to the people we serve and to their families, to our co-workers and employees, to our community partners, to our governing authorities and our funding agencies, and to the community-at-large.