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Self-Direction
As a Home and Community Based Waiver OPWDD program, Self-Direction allows individuals to create and manage a budget, hire support staff and engage in activities that will enhance integration to live and work in the community. The individual may choose the mix of supports, services, and staff that best suit their needs.
Self-Direction
“This program and RCIL give me a chance to live my life the way I want to.” – Shawn Hoyt
Self-Direction services promote independence for individuals with developmental disabilities. Individuals or their designee(s) manage their own budgets and choose the mix of supports, services, and staff that best suits their needs and allows them to live a more independent life.
Self-Direction gives individuals increased choice and control of their lives:
- Employer authority that enables individuals to hire and manage the staff they choose to employ while being supported by RCIL as the employer of record.
- Budget authority that provides the individual with a flexible budget to access the supports and services needed to live independently within the community;
- Options in daily activities such as paid or volunteer work, continuing education, and recreation;
- Build your own circle of support that includes family, coworkers, friends and support staff;
- Decide where to live - in an apartment, with a roommate, in a house with friends or family, or alone;
- Enjoy meaningful relationships and personal growth;
- Set the rhythms of daily life: what time to eat, when to go to sleep, etc.
As the Fiscal Intermediary, RCIL helps our Self-Direction participants manage their budgets by assisting with staff payroll, reimbursement for qualifying expenses paid out of pocket, providing support at planning meetings, and the many other aspects of a self-directed program.
Eligibility Requirements:
- Must be at least 2 years old,
- Be Medicaid eligible,
- Have a Care Manager (CM),
- Go through the Front Door and be OPWDD-eligible (Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities),
- Obtain a start-up broker, a Financial Intermediary (FI), and a Circle of Support (COS), and
- Have chosen HCBS waiver services over institutional care.
Counties Served: Self-Direction is servicing all of the following counties in New York State (including Long Island, NYC, and Yonkers): Addison, Albany, Bronx, Brooklyn, Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Herkimer, Hudson, Jefferson, Kings, Lewis, Madison, Manhattan, Middlesex, Monroe, Montgomery, Nassau, New Haven, New York, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Oswego, Otsego, Queens, Rennselaer, Richmond, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, St. Lawrence, Suffolk, Tioga, Tompkins, Warren, Washington, and Westchester Counties
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
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