An outreach of New Vision Children’s Services, a California Public Benefit 501(c)(3) Corporation

What is the Lanterman Development Disabilities Services Act?

 

The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman Act) is that part of California law that sets out the rights and responsibilities of persons with developmental disabilities, and creates the agencies, including regional centers, responsible for planning and coordinating services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities and their families.

Section 4501 of the Lanterman Act states: "The State of California accepts a responsibility for persons with developmental disabilities and an obligation to them which it must discharge. Affecting hundreds of thousands of children and adults directly, and having an important impact on the lives of their families, neighbors and whole communities, developmental disabilities present social, medical, economic and legal problems of extreme importance."

 

As a result, the Lanterman Act establishes an entitlement to services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities, those at risk of developing a developmental disability, and their families. This entitlement means that individuals with developmental disabilities and their families have the right to receive services and supports which will enable them to make decisions and choices about how, and with whom, they want to live their lives; achieve the highest self-sufficiency possible; and lead productive, independent and satisfying lives as part of the communities in which they live.

In addition to the entitlement to services and supports, the Lanterman Act creates the regional center as the central coordinating agency in a community network. The regional center has the mandate to ensure that the consumers for whom it is responsible receive services and supports which will assist them in living productively in their communities. The regional center may accomplish this task by securing services and supports directly, or by assisting consumers and families to locate and access services and supports from other agencies. This model of service delivery recognizes that California's network of services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities is large and complex. Therefore, the Legislature designed the service delivery system to have one central coordinating agency that consumers and families can contact regarding all of their questions and needs.

 

What responsibilities does the Lanterman Act designate to the Regional Center?

 

The Lanterman Act assigns the regional center the responsibility of providing various services and supports to consumers and their families. These include:

 

•  Outreach activities to identify persons who may need regional center services.

 

•  Assessment and evaluation to determine eligibility for regional center services.  

 

•  Preventive and counseling services for persons at high risk of having a baby with a developmental disability.  

 

•  Services for infants who have a high risk of becoming developmentally disabled.  

 

•  Development of an Individual Program Plan (IPP), through a person-centered planning process, which states the specific outcomes the consumer is trying to achieve, and the services and supports required to meet those outcomes.  

 

• Service coordination. Coordination of services and supports to assist consumers in meeting the desired outcomes they have specified in their IPPs.  

 

•  Development of innovative, cost-effective services and supports that are flexible, individualized and promote community integration.  

 

•  Assurance of the quality and effectiveness of services and supports that are provided to the consumer.  

 

•  Advocacy to protect the civil, legal and service rights of regional center consumers.  

 

• In addition to the above-mentioned responsibilities, the Lanterman Act requires that the regional centers be accountable for the monies received to provide services and supports for consumers.