Settlement Reached to Eliminate the Proration of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Protective Supervision

Impacting adults and children across California and providing additional IHSS services
Press Release

Settlement Reached to Eliminate the Proration of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Protective Supervision

A photo of a mother with her young son who has a mental disability. They are in his room smiling together.
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(Sacramento, CA) On April 21, 2021, Disability Rights California (DRC) reached a settlement agreement with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and Department of Social Services (CDSS) to eliminate the proration of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) protective supervision of multiple recipients living in the same home.

The settlement includes full restoration of protective supervision services for the 17 individuals represented by DRC. In addition, the settlement also provides around $36,000,000 in additional IHSS services that will impact over 5000 children and adults across California.

Protective supervision is an IHSS service for people who, due to a mental impairment or mental illness, need to be observed and monitored for 24 hours to protect them from injury, hazard, or accidents. It is only available for recipients who require this service 24 hours per day to remain living safely at home.

Before this agreement, when two or more protective supervision recipients lived in the same home, the need for protective supervision was considered to be met in common and the hours were automatically prorated. Because of this process, multiple children and adults living in the same household who needed protective supervision were placed at risk of unnecessary institutionalization.

One example is I.P., an 11-year-old boy with multiple disabilities, including developmental delay, Pierre Robin Syndrome, and hearing and speech impairments. Due to the severity of his disabilities, I.P. needs 24-hour protective supervision to remain living safely at home.  I.P. lives with three siblings who also require protective supervision. After applying proration, I.P. and his siblings were left with zero hours of protective supervision.  At the time the family contacted DRC for assistance, one sibling had already been moved to an out-of-home placement.        

“This agreement remedies a terribly unfair and illegal problem with the calculation of IHSS protective supervision services and ensures individuals can receive the support they need to remain living safely at home,” said Nicholas Levenhagen, Senior Attorney with Disability Rights California. 

The settlement agreement was reached following months of negotiations. In accordance with these negotiations, CDSS released All County Letter 20-111, instructing counties to stop the proration of protective supervision services.    

The final settlement also requires CDSS to submit a regulations package to the Office of Administrative Law to officially repeal the proration regulation. The CDSS State Hearings Division must also continue to accept rehearing requests from DRC for any individuals whose IHSS protective supervision services are still being prorated, as long as it has been less than a year since the hearing decision.

If you or someone you know is having a problem with IHSS protective supervision, please contact DRC at 1-800-776-5746 or TTY 1-800-719-5798.

Additional details of the final settlement agreement can be viewed here

Media Contacts

Melody Pomraning
Communications Director
Disability Rights California
(916) 504-5938
Melody.Pomraning@disabilityrightsca.org

 

 

Disability Rights California (DRC) is the agency designated under federal law to protect and advocate for the rights of Californians with disabilities. The mission of DRC is to defend, advance, and strengthen the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities. For more information visit: https://www.disabilityrightsca.org.