Child Welfare Services

You are in: Handbook for Families Adopting a Child with Developmental Disabilities

What if my child needs other kinds of services?

A variety of services are available to your child with developmental disabilities and your family. The specific services that you may access will vary according to your child's age and the nature of his disabilities.

If your child needs services other than those that are provided through the Early Intervention Program or through your local school district, there are a number of other agencies that may be able to help.

If your child has developmental disabilities and needs services beyond what is offered through your local school district, contact the Developmental Disabilities Services Office (DDSO) of the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) for your region. OMRDD is responsible for planning for, administering and providing services to citizens with developmental disabilities and their families. OMRDD works closely with voluntary agencies and local governments to develop the supports that help families care for family members with a disability, and to help each person with a disability become a more effective and productive member of the community.

Services that may be available through your DDSO include:

• Service Coordination to help families identify and obtain needed services,
• Clinical Services, including evaluations, speech therapy, physical therapy, and counseling,
• Family Support Services (FSS) offers a variety of services for consumers and their families, including:

respite	gives parents a break from day-to-day care of a child, respite can be provided either during the day or overnight at the child's home or at the provider's location; can include after school, weekend, overnight, and recreational programs
crisis intervention	either in-home or through temporary out-of-home placement, family cash assistance for specialized reimbursement, needs related to the child's disability
recreation programs	after school or weekend programs, day camp or sleep away camp
family training	counseling and technical training, sibling support address the needs of brothers and sisters of children with developmental disabilities
information and referral	so that individuals with developmental disabilities and families can make informed decisions



• Home and Community Based Services Waiver (HCBS), often called the "Medicaid Waiver," allows individualization of services to meet the child and family's needs. Services available to children through the HCBS waiver include:

service coordination	helps families identify and obtain needed services
residential habilitation (res hab)	provides services related to daily living skills that support the child at home, and training to primary care providers in areas such as development and implementation of toilet training goals and feeding goals
respite	provides short-term care for the child, offers family members short breaks from child care duties; can include afterschool, weekend, overnight, and recreational programs
environmental modifications	such as lifts, ramps, and widened doors in homes to ensure that the consumer's mobility in and around the home is not restricted
adaptive technology	such as switches and grab bars
family education and training	provides orientation on the nature and impact of developmental disabilities upon the child and his or her family, and informs them of service alternatives in order to enhance the decision making capacity of the family unit

all other Medicaid services offered by New York State.

• Care at Home Waiver (CAH) is designed specifically to prevent out-of-home placements of children with developmental disabilities and complex medical health care needs. Care at Home waiver services include:

  service coordination	helps families identify and obtain all services necessary to maintain the child at home
  respite	provides short term care for the child, and relieves family members temporarily from child care duties; can include afterschool, weekend, overnight, and recreational programs
  assistive technology services	assess the need for and facilitate necessary modifications which may include installation of ramps, widening doorways, and modification of vehicles to accommodate the child with developmental disabilities

If you need more information on accessing clinic services for your child for evaluations and assessments or other services, your DDSO can provide that information, and will refer you to a clinic in your region that can provide the services you need.

It should be noted that services provided by OMRDD funded programs are not entitlements. Availability of services is dependent on sufficient funding, and prompt access to services is not guaranteed. It is important to work with the DDSO in your area to decide which programs your child qualifies for and see that your child is registered for appropriate programs as quickly as possible so that when openings occur, your child may access these services.

If your child has emotional or mental health disabilities, additional services are available through the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and can be accessed through OMH Field Offices or by contacting your county mental health services (contact information in Westchester county). (To find the number for county mental health services, look under your county in the blue pages of the telephone directory.)

There are many public and private agencies not included in this booklet that have resources and services that might be helpful to you and your family. Resources for Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities is a guide to these resources which was developed by the Families Together Adoption Project and can be obtained by calling or writing NYS OMRDD, Bureau of Children's Services. In addition, OMRDD provides a complete listing of service providers by region in its ResourceDirectory, found at the agency's website: http://www.omr.state.ny.us.

Excerpts taken from:
Handbook for Families Adopting a Child with Developmental Disabilities, Families Together Adoption Project.
For a print copy check our publications section.

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