What it is
Inside traditional services, you can direct certain services yourself, such as respite or personal assistance. You hire your own worker, for the hours approved for you, at a set rate. A financial management service pays them after you approve their hours.
The state calls this participant-directed services. A financial management service, or FMS, is a company that makes the payments for the regional center. Participant-directed services also cover some things with no worker to hire, such as a class or camp in your community. A few things to know from the start:
- It is a way to get services that are in your IPP (Individual Program Plan). It does not add services or hours. If you need a service or more hours, ask for that too. You can ask for both at once.
- The worker or program does not have to be a regional center provider. A worker can be someone you already know and trust.
- You stay with your regional center and your service coordinator.
- You do not have to choose this. Most people stay with traditional services.
One of three ways to get your services
This guide is about the middle one.
Your regional center arranges it.
Less for you to manage.
Traditional services
Your regional center arranges your services with providers it works with.
Who finds your providers: Your regional center, and you can ask for a provider you prefer.
Good to know: Less for you to manage. Most people get services this way.
Participant-directed services
Inside traditional services, you can direct certain services yourself, such as respite or personal assistance. You hire your own worker, for the hours approved for you, at a set rate. A financial management service pays them after you approve their hours.
Who finds your providers: You, for those services.
Good to know: You are the employer, or share that role with the financial management service. There is no individual budget.
Self-Determination Program (SDP)
You get an individual budget, based on the services already approved for you. You decide how it is spent and who provides your services.
Who finds your providers: You, with help from an independent facilitator (paid from your budget) or your service coordinator.
Good to know: More of the work is yours, like a spending plan tied to your goals. A financial management service pays your providers. SDP starts with a free orientation.
You direct it.
More choice and control,
and more of the work.
In all three, you stay with your regional center and still have a service coordinator.
Services you can direct
The state's list has ten. Regional centers do not all offer every one of them this way. Your service coordinator can tell you which of your services can be delivered this way where you live.
| Service | What it is | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Respite | A break for the family member who gives care. | Any age |
| Day care | Care for a child while a parent works. | Children. It covers the cost beyond ordinary day care. A regional center can pay more when a family shows financial need and it helps the child stay at home. |
| Nursing | Nursing care by a licensed nurse. | Any age |
| Transportation | Rides to and from the services in your IPP. | Any age. For a child, it covers the cost beyond what any family would have. A regional center can pay more when a family shows financial need and it helps the child stay at home. |
| Community-based training | Support from your own worker out in the community, in place of or along with a day program or work program. | Adults |
| Personal assistance | Help to be successful at home and in the community. | Any age |
| Independent living | Building and keeping the skills to live on your own. | Adults |
| Supported employment | Help getting and keeping a job, or working for yourself. | People who want to work |
| Social recreation, camp and non-medical therapies | A class, camp or activity that mostly serves the general public. There is no worker to hire. How classes, camp and activities are paid for | Any age |
| Coaching before the Self-Determination Program | Help getting ready to enroll, after you have been to the orientation. The state calls it General Self-Directed Supports. Ask your service coordinator about it after your orientation. | People moving toward the Self-Determination Program. Usually up to 40 hours. |
Other names you may hear
Regional centers do not all use the words "participant-directed". You may hear FMS respite (FMS is short for financial management service), vouchers, or the FMS bill payer option for classes and camps. The same name can mean different things at different regional centers.
One question helps: do I have employer duties? If you are the employer, or you share that role with a financial management service, it is participant-directed services. If a care agency is the only employer and you have no employer duties, it is not, even when you picked the worker. That is called employer of record, and many regional centers offer it for respite. Some regional centers use the words employer of record for both, so ask which one they mean. How the ways compare
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