State Budget Cuts Do Not Mean
That Regional Centers Can Cut Your Services
Even though
Regional Centers Must Still Base
Your Services on Your IPP
Even with the budget problems, you still have the right to services that:
● Help you stay out of institutions;
● Train and help you to learn more living skills;
● Help you do productive things during the day;
● Get you to and from important activities (transportation);
● Help you keep your children in the family home, including respite.
You are NOT limited to the types of services listed above. But you need to be very specific in your IPP (Individualized Program Plan) about what you need and why.
Regional Centers Must Still Tell You in
Writing of Any Changes in Your Services
You still have the right to be told, in writing, if the regional center wants to cut or change your services.
Your notice must be written in a way that you understand and in the language you have told the regional center you best understand.
You still have the right to appeal.
Disability Rights California cannot represent most people who come to us for help. But we can talk to you about your case and we can give you advice on how to prepare for a hearing.
Take Action if a
Services because of the State Budget Crisis
● Make sure the regional center writes down on a Notice of Action what services it wants to change and why it wants to change them.
● Appeal the regional center’s notice. Remember to appeal the decision within ten (10) days of getting the written notice. If you appeal within ten (10) days, your current services will stay in place until an administrative law judge hears your case and rules on it.
● Gather information that shows that you need the services that the regional center wants to change. Make sure the information you use is accurate and explains your needs in detail. Also, find people who are willing to go to your hearing and tell the administrative law judge why you need the services that the regional center wants to change. Make sure these people know your needs.
● Ask for a copy of the regional center’s "expenditure plan." The expenditure plan is a document that your regional center wrote to the state explaining how it plans to save money because of the budget crisis.
● You should also ask for the regional center’s purchase of service policy and the exception policy that goes with that. Remember that purchase of service guidelines cannot state maximums and minimums of services a person can get.
● At hearing, you can argue that you have the right to have your needs met to fulfill your IPP goals and objectives. The state budget crisis, the regional center’s expenditure plan, and the regional center’s purchase of service guidelines cannot be the reason for cutting or changing your services or supports as long as you can show that those services meet your needs as described in your IPP. Whether someone else can serve your needs for less money is a different question. But if a change in providers means that your needs are no longer met, you can still argue against the change.
For additional information about the IPP process and your
rights, visit www.disabilityrightsca.org/pubs/506301index.htm and read the Rights under the Lanterman Act. Or call your local Disability Rights
Disability Rights
Office of Clients’ Rights Advocacy, (north) 1-800-390-7032; (south) 1-866-833-6712
Disability Rights