Indiana Family to Family

FUSE and Family Voices Indiana are partnering to bring you To Your Child’s Health , a series of health care finance trainings designed to help families raising children with disabilities learn more about the systems that can help meet their child’s health needs. We have a NEW training: Filling the Funding Gaps . Raising a child with special health care needs or disabilities brings unexpected and added expenses. This training will explore the variety of grant, philanthropic and creative options available to help you meet your family’s needs. Be prepared to learn about the hidden options you need to know! You can find it, and the webquest, on our website:  http://www.fvindiana.org/training Special thanks to Lucas Arland for providing the narration! If you view the training, please take the short survey to provide feedback so we can continue to improve our services:  http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5ue5wwyh19p3wa4/start   Future sessions in the series include

Family Voices Indiana shares this opportunity to share your voice, especially about proposed changes to the waiver system. The SS waiver amendment lists the way DDRS has sought input about proposed changes, and one of the ways listed is Powerful Parents meetings. Please attend if you are able and learn more about proposed changes and share YOUR VOICE with DDRS........We hope to share possible talking points with you in the near future. Stay tuned...... DDRS would like to reinvigorate the Power Parents work group in order to: Create a network of family contacts within the districts Share information on available resources for families  Make DDRS plans and initiatives transparent in how they affect your family Listen to how DDRS can make connections for your family need Meeting Dates   Thursday, May 10, 2012 from 6-7:30 pm Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library 200 SE MLK Jr. Blvd. Evansville, IN  47713 Large Group Study Room, 2nd floor, Government Document area Check in at

Family Voices Indiana  and  About Special Kids have created a video to help explain the proposed changes to Indiana's DD Waiver Services (Section 144). You can find it at this link: http://fvindiana.org/ Trainings/DDwaiver/index.html We also posted yesterday that the  proposal to CMS  to make the changes to the Support Services waiver to create the new Family Support Waiver has been submitted by the state. We will be providing additional guidance about what that proposal contains and what families can do to provide input prior to any approval by CMS. It is important to note that this proposal affects ALL individuals waiting for a DD, Autism or Support Services waiver slot. The proposal creates a new waiver with a cap of $16,250/yr for anyone on the waiting list. This new waiver will no longer be a "stepping stone" to the DD waiver. Individuals will receive the new Family Support Waiver, if eligible, and stay there unless they meet new criteria for a DD waiver,

Family Voices Indiana encourages its members to read the following announcement from DDRS regarding the Support Services waiver amendment. This announcement is related to the proposed changes under the Section 144 report. Family Voices Indiana and ASK will be posting a powerpoint outlining the Sec 144 proposed changes soon. The Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services (DDRS) has made a commitment to transparency and public input in the policy development process. As a result, all new policies and policy updates will be posted on this page for public review and comment. The public comment period will last 30 business days from the date of posting, after which all policies will be removed from the page, reviewed based on the public input, finalized and posted onto the DDRS policy page . Please send all comments to DDRSpolicies@fssa.IN.go To: Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services (DDRS) Stakeholders From: DDRS Central Office Re: Support Service Waiver Amendment

Family Voices Indiana shares this announcement from FSSA. If your child has this waiver and you have concerns, you should speak to your case manager. Amendment to Indiana Aged & Disabled Waiver Impacts: Aged & Disabled Waiver Participants Effective: March 1, 2012 **Please Note: Changes will not impact your current plan of care or the services you receive ** An amendment to the Aged & Disabled home and community based waiver has been approved with an effective date of March 1, 2012. Please be assured the changes in this amendment do not require a change to any individual’s current plan of care. You do not have to take any action regarding these changes. The following changes went into effect on March 1, 2012: 1. Add Medicaid Aid Categories (to align with approved eligibility criteria in other Indiana home and community based waivers) 2. Remove the service limit on Attendant Care Service 3. Remove the service limit on Respite Service 4. Change the name of Adult F