Indiana Family to Family

From J. Jacob Sipe,  Executive Director at IHCDA Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities face a daunting task trying to locate affordable housing. Sufficient housing options are scarce in most communities, and those that do exist often fail to provide any real opportunity for community inclusion. As a result, many of these individuals are deprived of the ability to choose where and how they want to live. To address this need, IHCDA is utilizing our Moving Forward 2020 program to provide integrated affordable housing for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Moving Forward 2020 blends affordable housing with transportation, energy, and technology solutions. At our October board meeting, the IHCDA Board of Directors approved financing for two innovative developments: North End Apartments and Passage. Details about the Developments North End Apartments North End Apartments, developed by Old Town Companies in partnership with Village of Merici,

  Autism, Early Intervention and ABA Therapy What is autism? Autism, as defined by the Autism Society of America, “is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a “spectrum disorder” that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. Symptoms and signs of Autism generally emerge between 24 and 36 months of age. There is no known single cause of autism…” Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are general terms used for grouping complex disorders of brain development. These developmental disorders are characterized in different degrees by: Social interaction difficulties Nonverbal and verbal communication difficulties Repetitive behaviors While the signs and symptoms of autism can appear as early as 6 months, and typically by age 3, there are many children who are diagnosed much later, and some indi

  A&D TBI Waiver Services by Family Voices Indiana on Scribd

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is leading a multi-agency effort to understand how the services the federal government provides are part of a broader customer journey. The OMB disability survey  is open to individuals with a disability and those who help them. OMB invites participants to share what they have found most helpful, frustrating, and moments that made a difference in their family’s journey. The survey is anonymous, though you have the option to share an email address if you are interested and willing to arrange an interview to discuss further. You can visit  2020 Federal Customer Experience Journey Mapping Projects  to learn more about this important project, including how OMB will use the information participants provide.

Family Voices Indiana  is proud to be featured in the first issue of Special Needs Living Magazine. You can check it out here .

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) interim guidance,  Caring for Children and Youth With Special Health Care Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic , highlighted the importance of Shared Decision Making (SDM) between families and providers in navigating COVID-19. Family Voices has created the  SDM Tool for families , which provides more information about this concept, and some examples of how parents can initiate conversations with their child’s care team. SDM Document Final by Family Voices Indiana on Scribd

On Thursday, October 22, Senators Brown, Casey, and Wyden introduced the  Fairness to Seniors and People with Disabilities During COVID-19 Act   ( S. 4830 ). This legislation would protect older adults and people with disabilities from being required to repay extra Social Security or SSI benefits they received from the Social Security Administration (SSA) due to the agency suspending certain work during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the companion bill to   HR 7830 , introduced in the House by Rep. Danny Davis.  If passed into law, it would require SSA to automatically waive all overpayments that occurred between March 1 and December 31, 2020, without requiring the overpaid individual to request a waiver, unless there was determination of fraud, similar fault, or misuse by a representative payee in causing the overpayment.  However, SSA has already  published an interim final rule  that sets up a “streamlined” waiver process for individuals who were overpaid between March 1 and September

On October 15, the American Academy of Pediatrics released its latest  Blueprint for Children , which outlines a comprehensive child health policy agenda for 2020 and beyond. Today, children and adolescents face intersecting crises. Millions of Americans have contracted  COVID-19 31  — including almost 700,000 children. 32  This pandemic’s consequences for youth far surpass those of the disease itself. Children have lost the institutions that provide structure to and support for their lives, with mental and physical health consequences that may take decades to unfurl. 33  Children have also suffered the deaths of loved ones from COVID-19, and the loss of critical connections. Meanwhile,  racism  persists as a public health crisis. 34  Functioning as a social determinant of health, racism plagues children of color with birth disparities, chronic stress, and lifelong mental and physical health problems. 35  Children of color now make up a majority of American youth — so their health and

In the fall of 2019, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) began working with a small group of CYSHCN experts and families to reexamine systems of care for CYSHCN and to identify priorities and opportunities that can advance those systems and improve outcomes. The result is a draft Blueprint that can inform programs and policy at the community, state, and federal levels in four key areas:    Health Equity  Access to Services and Supports  Family/Child Well-being and Quality of Life  Financing of Services  MCHB invites public comments on the draft Blueprint and how this work can be operationalized at the community, state and federal levels. Please submit comments via email to  CYSHCN@hrsa.gov   and reference "CYSHCN Blueprint RFI" in the subject line. The deadline to respond is Monday, November 30, 2020, by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.