Indiana Family to Family

The OASIS forums have ended and we hope many of you were able to attend them. The April 3rd forum in Indianapolis was videotaped and is available through The Arc of Indiana's website at video of OASIS forum . Andrew Ranck has posted his powerpoint slides here: Oasis State Tour 2008 Presentation and will post a Frequently Asked Question document on the OASIS website . If you have additional questions, you can email him at OASIS-ICAPhelp@fssa.in.gov or call (317) 234-5222 or 1-888-527-0008 . The next event families should attend are the Article 7 public hearings : April 15, 2008 - Evansville April 16, 2008 – New Albany April 22, 2008 – Merrillville April 23, 2008 – South Bend April 24, 2008 – Fort Wayne May 7, 2008 – Indianapolis - starts at 9AM . It is very probable that the State Board will be in attendance at this hearing. Therefore, a large turnout would send a message that this issue is important to families. If it is possible to adjust your schedule to attend this hearing,

FV Indiana often hears our members' frustrations related to the difficulty of identifying and connecting with needed resources. In an effort to address this, we will be periodically sharing contact information and descriptions of existing statewide resources. We will distribute these via our listserv and posts on our Blog. If there is a statewide resource you would like us to consider highlighting, please contact us at FV.indiana@gmail.com . Our inaugural resource is Outreach Services of Indiana . ABOUT: Outreach Services of Indiana is a project of the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA); it began as a small regional project in 2002 and has recently expanded to a statewide project. Outreach provides staff training, technical assistance, consultation and backup service provision throughout Indiana to support individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, service providers, and case managers. Adults and children who live in Indiana and have an intelle

As Family Voices members prepare to participate in Indiana’s primary election on Tuesday May 6 th , we encourage you to learn about the candidates and their positions on issues that impact our families. In that spirit, we are sharing the following: Barack Obama Barack Obama’s campaign has released his Plan to Empower Americans with Disabilities and the video of Senator Obama expressing his support for people with disabilities. You can find the Plan and the video at www.BarackObama.com/issues /disabilities . Read the Full Plan Read the plan on Autism Spectrum Disorders Also, recently Barack Obama's Disability Policy Committee hosted a national Obama Disability Policy Conference Call that attracted hundreds of people from the disability community. You can read the transcript of that conference call at www.BarackObama.com/issues /disabilities . January 29 Conference Call with Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Disability Policy Committee

Dear Family Voices Members, We have been hearing an increase in concern from our members related to Medicaid and other State Programs. Two key issues seem to have reach critical importance; access to/eligibility determination for Medicaid, TANF and Food Stamps, and denial of coverage for therapy serves by Medicaid. Family Voices is dedicated to partnering with our members and other organizations to address these issues. In that vein please consider and share the following information: United Senior Action of Indiana and the Association of Retired Americans are working with others to find and assist people who are losing Medicaid, TANF or Food Stamps due to the new "welfare modernization" application or redetermination process. We've heard from people all over the "pilot area" in north central and northeastern Indiana: Including 12 counties located in Region 1 which where implemented on October 29, 2007 (i.e, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, Delaware, Grant, Howard, Mad

Nearly nine people die each day in Indiana because they do not have health insurance. That’s just one finding from a new Families USA report, Dying for Coverage in Indiana . Having health insurance matters, and these statistics tell you why. The report is the first-ever state-specific report of its type, and is based on a ground-breaking national study by the Institute of Medicine, which in 2002 forged the direct link between a lack of health coverage and deaths from health-related causes. DYING FOR COVERAGE IN INDIANA The number of uninsured Americans reached 47 million in 2006, and it continues to rise. For many of the uninsured, the lack of health insurance has dire consequences. The uninsured face medical debt, often go without necessary care, and even die prematurely. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine released a groundbreaking report, Care without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late, which estimated that, nationwide, 18,000 adults between the a

FV Indiana urges all of our members to vote in the upcoming primary election. Indiana's primary election is Tuesday, May 6th. In the primary, the parties choose their candidates, so voters must declare as either Republican or Democrat and then vote only for the candidates from that party. The deadline to register to vote in the 2008 primary is April 7. If you are not registered you can register at any Bureau of Motor Vehicles branch or your County Clerk's Office. You can also pick up a mail-in registration (must be postmarked by April 7) form at any library or print one off the Secretary of State's website . The primary will be held on Tuesday, May 6th, with polls open 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. You can find your polling place and answers to most other voting questions here . If you can't make the polls on the 6th, absentee voting starts on April 7th and continues through April 28th. An absentee ballot can be requested here .