From the
Area 12
Family Care Council, www.fcc12.org
to the
Developmentally
Disabled Folks and Their Families
5/4/2009
Hello Folks,
Here is a second update of this year from the Area 12 Family
Care Council (FCC). Again, we are
focusing on the wait list and the 07/08 Legislation. We also have a few other tidbits for you as
well.
Wait List:
I understand that the Agency for Persons with Disabilities
(APD) is in the process of changing the way they view the waitlist. Currently, the waitlist is made up of folks
that need services now, but also includes folks in school and others who do not
want services right away but want to make sure that they don’t lose their place
in line. In addition, it includes
individuals who are receiving services from the Family Supported Living Waiver
who wish to be placed on the Home and Community Based Waiver (Medwaiver). This is very disconcerting to those of us who
are getting close to needing services that numbers in the thousands. It is also very daunting to the legislators
who need to solve this problem as well.
It makes it look much bigger than it actually is.
From what I understand, when a person requests their
waitlist number, APD will be sending them the date that they were approved for
placement on the waitlist instead of the actual number. That way, if you know the date of the last
person to be put on the waiver, you have a better idea of where you stand.
Legislature:
Again, the legislature is
one area that the FCC must become involved with. All of the money that we need to fund the
services that our folks need comes from the legislature. Without that, there are no matching Medicaid
funds; with no Medicaid funds, there are no services. Not only do we need initiatives for funding,
but we also need to stay on top of legislation as it is proposed and introduced
through the Legislative process.
Following is some of what happened this year:
SB1124 – Created a 4 - tier
system. Tier 4 is the old Family
Supported Living Waiver. It is limited
to $14,792 and is limited to folks living in the family home or in supported
living situations. T3 includes, but is not limited
to individuals requiring residential placements individuals in independent or
supported living situations, and individuals who live in their family home. Total annual
expenditures under Tier Three may not exceed $35,000 per individual each year. T2 is limited to individuals whose service needs include a
licensed residential facility and greater than 5 hours per day in residential
habilitation services, or clients in supported living who receive greater than
6 hours a day of in-home support services.
Total
annual expenditures under Tier Two may not exceed $55,000 per individual each
year.
We all need to start visiting our legislators
with our DD families to start sensitizing our elected officials to some of the
issues.
For your reference, attached is a list of our
legislators with their contact information so that you can call them to inform
them of your thoughts.
Other Ways to get services:
All
of you folks that have children in school know, or should know, that you are
entitled to services through the school system.
If your child is disabled, you write an IEP and then get the services
that support the IEP. If you are expert
in this, then we need you on our Family Care Council so that you can be a
resource for other folks that are having a hard time negotiating with the
schools to get needed services.
If
you are on one of the Medicaid waivers you are entitled to services based upon
medical necessity. It is important to
work closely with your support coordinator to develop a plan for services. If your children are not in school and are
not on the Medicaid waiver, make sure to stay in touch with your case worker at
the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to find out about possible available
community resources to help you; and ask for the date your children became
eligible so you know where you stand on the statewide wait list. Hopefully you have applied and are on the
statewide waiting list. Wait! Did I ask if you knew your waiting list
number?
With
regards to available community resources you can seek assistance, for example,
through Vocational Rehabilitation (VR).
VR is part of the Department of Education and is responsible for helping
eligible individuals with disabilities get and keep a job. The first thing to do is to go to their web
site and print out and thoroughly read their handbook. This is a bit of work but well worthwhile for
knowing how to “negotiate” with VR and navigate their process. The manual is found at http://www.rehabworks.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=SubMain.CounPolManual. I downloaded and printed out chapters 3-8,
& 11 and put them in a 3 ring binder.
I take it to every meeting that I have with them.
It
is important to remember that it is VR’s job to help find your son or daughter
a job based upon skills, abilities, and the provision of resources to help
maintain his/her job. This means that
you need to identify the barriers that get in the way of doing that. It could be due to a lack of training, tools,
proper behavior, poor reading skills, or other things. You and the VR counselor will need to agree
on this. Once you agree, then you work
together to identify a vendor to provide the services to achieve
employment. The vendor that we use
provides behavioral counseling. A
behavioral counselor comes to our house every week and works with our son to
improve his behavior. It has been a
Godsend and VR pays the bill.
To begin the process, you will need to make an
appointment with VR to fill out an application.
I found the office in Ormond Beach to be particularly helpful. I found their counselors there to also be particularly
knowledgeable. And what they don’t know,
we are figuring out together. The phone
number for VR in Ormond Beach is 386-615-6111.
The address is 780 W. Granada Blvd. Suite 125 in Ormond Beach. Call me if you would like the name of our
counselor, 386-445-1288.
After
you fill out the paperwork, the counselor will call you to make an
appointment. He/she will then determine
the person’s eligibility based upon documentation to confirm your diagnosis and
the handicapping condition that affects his/her achieving employment. If you receive SSI or SSDI, you are presumed
eligible.
Next,
the VR counselor and you will develop a plan.
The plan should identify services to address the barriers and assistance
that should lead to finding and getting a job.
You will need to be patient, however.
The wheel turns slowly. You want
to get started with services first.
Keep
your plan in your 3-ring binder. It is
important to read the VR manual. All of
the time intervals listed are minimums, not maximums, and takes effect after
the job is stabilized. This means that you could be getting services for a very
long time.
If
your counselor determines that your child is too disabled to work, there is an
appeal procedure you can follow. Use it
and write a letter asking for an administrative hearing.
If
you get stuck, call me, Phil Pearson – (386-445-1288), and I will see what I
can do to help you out.
Library – We have decided to support our local libraries. At a recent meeting we approved and have
purchased 2 sets of VHS training tapes from the James Stanfield Company and are
in the process of donating them to the Volusia and Flagler libraries. They are terrific! They use professional actors in comedy
situations to help our folks understand how to behave in various situations. The tapes that we purchased include videos
about criticism, bullying, teasing, and anger.
Ask for them at your local library.
They should be there shortly. You
may need to tell them that the Area 12 Family Care Council donated them.
If
you can think of other resources that we should purchase for the libraries,
please let us know.
Family Care Council:
Ah! The answer is to get involved. It is the only way to influence the people
that control the money that provides the services that your child will
need. Join Area 12’s Family Care
Council. We usually meet the 2nd
Thursday of each month from 3 to about
At
our April meeting at the Bunnell City Hall, we had a record turnout. In attendance were lots of good folks with
energy and good ideas.
We
plan to periodically move our meetings to try and make them more accessible to
more folks. The June and July meetings
will be back in Daytona Beach, but the August meeting is planned for the
Volusia ARC location in Deland from 7 –
Well,
I enjoyed talking with you. Hope to see
you at a meeting.
Oh,
and did I forget? Did you get your wait
list information if you are waiting to get services?
Philip A. Pearson
Philip
Pearson – Chairman Area 12 Family Care Council
ppearson1@mindspring.com
386-445-1288
Florida Legislature
Governor
Charlie Crist
Executive Office of the
Governor
The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
850-488-4441
850-487-0801 (fax)
Website: http://www.flgov.com/contact_form
Senate Representatives
|
District 1: Anthony C. Hill Sr. Email: hill.anthony.web@flsenate.gov 5600 New Kings
Road, Ste. 5 Jacksonville,
FL 32209 866-867-0289 904-921-1648
(fax) 404 S Monroe
Street, Rm. 213 Senate Office
Building Tallahassee,
FL 32399 850-187-5024 Legislative
Assistants: Cynthia
Appling, Valerie Chrispin, Deborah Parsons, Tracy Butler |
District 7: Evelyn Lynn 536 N. Halifax
Ave., Ste. 101 Daytona Beach,
FL 32118 386-238-3180 386-238-3179
(fax) 151 SE Osceola
Ave 3rd
Floor City Hall Ocala, FL 34471-2148 352-694-0160 200 South 7th
Ave Room 1-C Palatka,
FL 32177-4612 1-866-831-2665
(statewide) Tallahassee
Office: 404 South
Monroe St., Room 212 Senate Office
Building Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1100 850-487-5033 Email: lynn.evelyn.web@flseante.gove Legislative Assistant:
Jeanne McIntosh, Charlyn Thompson, Kathleen Roe,
Frankie Robert |
|
District 8: James E.
King, Jr. Email: king.james.web@flsenate.gov 9485 Regency
Square Blvd, Ste. 108 Jacksonville,
FL 32225-8145 888-861-9761
(District wide) 904-727-3600 904-727-3603
(fax) 404 S. Monroe
St., Rm. 400 Senate Office
Building Tallahassee,
FL 32399 850-487-5030 850-487-5368
(fax) Legislative Assistants:
Kay Rousseau, Rebecca Stagg, Kelly Williams, Darla Wilson |
District 20: Carey Baker 301 West Ward Ave Eustis, FL 32726-4024 352-742-6490 352-742-6492
(fax) 1-888-567-5577
(outside Lake County) 352-360-6739
(Lady Lake) 386-736-5048
(Deland) Tallahassee
Office: 404 South
Monroe St., Room 316 Senate Office
Building Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1100 850-487-5014 Email: baker.carey.web@flsenate.gov Legislative
Assistants: Gale Bass, Renee Strong, Vilma Tucker, Thomas Hammons |
House of Representatives
|
District 20: William L.
Proctor The Capitol 402 South
Monroe Street, Ste. 1401 Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1300 850-488-2977 900 State Rd
16, Ste. 2 St. Augustine,
FL 32084 904-823-2550 Legislative
Assistant: Alison Johnson District Secretary: Lori Senea |
District 21: Joe Pickens 3841 Reid
Street Ste. 5 Palatka,
FL 32177-2509 386-312-2272 402 South
Monroe St. 214 The Capitol Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1300 850-488-0665 Legislative
Assistant: Jack Hall District
Secretary: Donna Pember |
|
District 25: Alan Hays 871 S. Central Ave Ste. C Umatilla,
FL 32784-9290 352-742-6441 PO Box 2326 Umatilla,
FL 32784-2326 866-873-0714 402 S. Monroe
St. 417 House
Office Building Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1300 850-488-0348 Legislative
Assistant: Jennifer Wilson District
Secretary: Anne-Marie Norman |
District 26: Pat Patterson 230 N. Woodland
Blvd, Ste. 222 Deland, FL
32720 386-736-5100 386-736-5102
(fax) 209 House
Office Building 402 S. Monroe
Street Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1300 850-488-9873 Legislative
Assistant: Michael Scudiero District
Secretary: Hilda Quintero |
|
District 27: Joyce Cusack 224 N. Woodland Blvd. Deland, FL 32720-4219 386-943-7900 402 S. Monroe
St. 316 The Capitol Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1300 850-488-0580 Legislative
Assistant: Nanci Cornwell District Secretary: Beth Beekman |
District 28: Dorothy Hukill 940 10th Street Building 2,
Room 128 New Smyrna
Beach, FL 32168-7563 386-424-2365 2990 S.
Atlantic Ave Daytona Beach,
FL 32118-6002 386-322-5111 402 S. Monroe
St. 327 The Capitol Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1300 850-488-6653 Legislative
Assistant: Braden Curran District Secretary: Edith Little |
|
District 33: Sandra “Sandy” Adams 2074 Winter
Springs Blvd. Oviedo, FL 32765-9347 407-977-4020 402 S. Monroe
St. 204 House
Office Building Tallahassee,
FL 32399-1300 850-488-0468 Legislative
Assistant: Stephanie Welcher District Secretary: Patricia Brimmer |
|