Family Support Coalition Notes

Family Support Coalition Notes

March 22, 2012

Moving children from DDD to DCF

Guests:

Dawn Apgar – DHS/DDD

Missy Balmir - DDD

Jenifer Bulvanoski - DDD

Rosemary Brown - DCF

Facts:

Starting July 1, 2012 DDD will be transferring all children’ services to the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
DDS will continue to oversee Personal Preference and Information and Referral, but children will receive services through DCF. That is, anyone can use DDS for Information and Referral, but DD children will no longer be assigned to DDS.
DDD’s Family Support services for children, including $20 million of DDD’s state-only money for Family Support services, will be moved to DCFeffective January 1, 2013. Camp and Respite requests will continue to be handled by DDD until that time. 2012/2013 contracts will be transferred to DCF midyear.
DCF will provide services until 21. Transition planning will occur between 16 and 21. Individuals will apply for DDD eligibility at 16. DDD will not provide any case management until 21, but will provide information related to the transition planning process (for example, information about guardianship, SSI, Medicaid, adult services, etc.) DDD will start providing adult services at 21 (see notes below about adults and the Supports waiver).
Child Behavioral Health Services will be called the Division of Child Integrated Systems of Care Services (DCISCS).
CPEP (DDD’s program for children with high behavioral needs) will be provided through DCISCS.
DCF services are based on functional need, not on economic criteria.
Children’s needs will be addressed by DCF staff as needed (probably no individual ongoing case management).
Moving to DCF will require families to think differently about Family Support services. Instead of registering just because of having a child with DD, families will need a “reason” to call and ask for services.

Questions - Family Support Coalition members asked the following questions. All of these issuesare still being worked out by DDD and DCF so they weren’t able to provide any definitive answers:

Will DDD’s state-only Family Support funds be made available only to families with a child with a developmental disability and, if so, how will those children be identified among the other DCF children?
DCF families tend to come in and out of the system, while DD families are dealing with life-long needs and tend to stay in the system. How will DCF’s current model of providing services, which is focused more on responding to specific needs/crises as they arise, adapt to this?
Will children currently receiving DDD Family Support services continue to receive those same services?
What will the DCF contracts with current DDD Family Support providers look like?
How will self-directed respite be managed?
What will the eligibility criteria be in order for children to receive DCF services? Will that be the same for all services, including Family Support services?
How will children receiving services through DCF be identified at 16 for transition planning and application for eligibility for DDD adult services? That is, what will be included in the assessment/eligibility criteria for DCF services that will identify those 16 year olds who may be eligible for DDD adult services?
When will intake by DDD for children stop?

Identified needs – The following are some of the needs that Family Support Coalition members identified as being critically important to the process of moving children from DDD to DCF:

The whole DCF system – including case managers, behavioral health providers, Family Success Centers, and Family Support Organizations – has to be educated about the unique needs of children with developmental disabilities and their families.
The FS Coalition needs to understand the range of services provided throughout DCF, and how they might be useful to DDfamilies.
How DCF conceptualizes “Family Support” may be different than how DD families conceptualize it – or how the Family Support Act describes it – and we need a definition in this new system that reflects our families’ needs. (And related to this, the Family Support advocacy community needs to come up with a unified concept of Family Support across the life span and regardless of who is providing the services.)
We need to educate families about the upcoming changes but there is little concrete information yet with which to do that.
Most of all, we need to be at the table giving input before – not after – final decisions are made.

Lifespan Respite Coalition

On April 20 there will a roundtable meeting (invitation only for approximately 30 people) for representatives from many areas including faith-based groups, informal groups, and alternative sources of care. The purpose of the roundtable is to identify non-traditional sources of respite in NJ, and think about ways to disseminate this information. Another Lifespan Respite Coalition Summitwill be held in the fall, and may include people from other states. Those wishing to become a member of the Lifespan Respite Coalition can contact Eric Joice at , or Kristin Leonardi or 732-262-8020