225C.47 - COMPREHENSIVE FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM.
225C.47 COMPREHENSIVE FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM.
1. For the purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise
requires:
a. "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:
(1) The individual's parent.
(2) The individual's sibling.
(3) The individual's grandparent, aunt, or uncle.
(4) The individual's legal custodian.
(5) 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.
"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. § 6001.
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 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 in consultation with
the comprehensive family support council created in section 225C.48.
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. Section History: Recent Form
94 Acts, ch 1041, §3; 96 Acts, ch 1084, § 1--5; 2006 Acts, ch
1159, §17--21
Referred to in § 225C.48, 225C.49