1. For the purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
a. "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.
b. "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 services and support to eligible families.
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 for assistance under the comprehensive family support program. The department 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 personal assistance and family support services council created in section 225C.48. The department shall adopt rules to implement the program which provide for all of the following:
a. Eligible families maintain control of decisions which affect the families' children who are individuals with a disability.
b. Existing local agencies are utilized to provide facilities and a single entry point for comprehensive family support program applicants.
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 decisions involving families which 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. Identification of the services and support included in the comprehensive family support program.
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.
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.
94 Acts, ch 1041, §3
Referred to in § 225C.48
Implementation; schedule; budget and funding plan and program design; delay until July 1, 1996; pilot projects; 94 Acts, ch 1041, §5, 6
Iowa General Assembly
Search: Iowa Code 1995
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