The regional center is the contact in your community to get services and supports you want and need. With your help, the regional center develops an IPP for you and pays for some of the services in your IPP.
Every regional center client gets a service coordinator, also called a case manager or social worker. Your service coordinator helps you get the services listed in your IPP, including services from other agencies, like Medi-Cal or the school district. If any of the services listed in your IPP are not available anywhere else, the regional center will pay for the services.
There are 21 regional centers in California. Each serves a different area of the state. To find the regional center for your area of the state, click here. The Department of Developmental Services, called DDS, monitors the regional centers and makes sure they implement the Lanterman Act.[1]Sections 4416, 4434.
DDS is a state agency. Regional centers are private, non-profit agencies under contract with DDS. Regional centers provide some services to people with developmental disabilities, and they arrange for others to provide services. DDS does not provide services directly.[2]ARC v. DDS (1985) 38 Cal.3d 384, 388-389 (citations and footnotes omitted).
The Legislature says that DDS “has jurisdiction over the treatment of the laws relating to the care, custody, and treatment of developmentally disabled persons.”[3]Section 4011. Regional centers provide persons with developmental disabilities “access to the facilities and services best suited to them through their lifetime.”[4]Section 4620(a).