225C.47 Comprehensive family support program.

1. For the purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

a. (1) “Family” means a group of interdependent persons living in the same household. A family consists of an individual with a disability and any of the following:

(a) The individual’s parent.

(b) The individual’s sibling.

(c) The individual’s grandparent, aunt, or uncle.

(d) The individual’s legal custodian.

(e) A person who is providing short-term foster care to the individual subject to a case permanency plan which provides for reunification between the individual and the individual’s parent.

(2) “Family” does not include a person who is employed to provide services to an individual with a disability in an out-of-home setting, including but not limited to a hospital, nursing facility, personal care home, board and care home, group foster care home, or other institutional setting.

b. “Individual with a disability” means an individual who is less than twenty-two years of age and meets the definition of developmental disability in 42 U.S.C. §15002.

c. “Services and support” means services or other assistance intended to enable an individual with a disability to control the individual’s environment, to remain living with the individual’s family, to function more independently, and to increase the integration of the individual into the individual’s community. Services and support may include but are not limited to funding for purchase of equipment, respite care, supplies, assistive technology, and payment of other costs attributable to the individual’s disability which are identified by the individual’s family.

2. A comprehensive family support program is created in the department of human services to provide a statewide system of services and support to eligible families. The program shall be implemented in a manner which enables a family member of an individual with a disability to identify the services and support needed to enable the individual to reside with the individual’s family, to function more independently, and to increase the individual’s integration into the community.

3. Eligibility for the comprehensive family support program is limited to families who meet all of the following conditions:

a. The family resides in the state of Iowa.

b. The family includes an individual with a disability.

c. The family expresses an intent for the family member who is an individual with a disability to remain living in the family’s home.

d. The family’s taxable income is less than sixty thousand dollars in the most recently completed tax year.

4. A family may apply to the department or to a family support center developed pursuant to this section for assistance under the comprehensive family support program. The department or family support center shall determine eligibility for the program in accordance with the provisions of this section.

5. The department shall design the program. The department shall adopt rules to implement the program which provide for all of the following:

a. (1) An application process incorporating the eligibility determination processes of other disability services programs to the extent possible.

(2) Eligible families maintain control of decisions which affect the families’ children who are individuals with a disability.

b. (1) Existing local agencies are utilized to provide facilities and a single entry point for comprehensive family support program applicants.

(2) Services and support are provided in a timely manner and emergency access to needed services and support is provided.

c. Technical assistance is provided to service and support providers and users.

d. State, regional, and local media are utilized to publicize the family support program.

e. A process is available to appeal the department’s or family support center’s decisions involving families that apply for the comprehensive family support program and are denied services and support under the comprehensive family support program. The department shall make reasonable efforts to utilize telecommunications so that a family initiating an appeal may complete the appeal process in the family’s local geographic area.

f. (1) Identification of the services and support and service provider components included in the comprehensive family support program.

(2) Upon request by a family member, provision of assistance in locating a service provider.

g. Identification of payment for services and support directly to families, by voucher, or by other appropriate means to maintain family control over decision making.

h. Implementation of the program in accordance with the funding appropriated for the program.

i. The utilization of a voucher system for payment provisions for the family support center component of the program developed under subsection 7.

6. Services and support provided under the comprehensive family support program shall not be used to supplant other services and support available to a family of an individual with disabilities but shall be used to meet family needs that would not be met without the program.

7. The comprehensive family support program shall include a family support center component developed by the department in accordance with this subsection. Under the component, a family member of an individual with a disability shall be assisted by a family support center in identifying the services and support to be provided to the family under the family support subsidy program or the comprehensive family support program. The identification of services and support shall be based upon the specific needs of the individual and the individual’s family which are not met by other service programs available to the individual and the individual’s family.

94 Acts, ch 1041, §3; 96 Acts, ch 1084, §1 – 5; 2006 Acts, ch 1159, §17 – 21; 2013 Acts, ch 138, §88; 2014 Acts, ch 1092, §172; 2015 Acts, ch 29, §33

Referred to in §225C.49