Regional Center Service Coordinator: How to Get an Answer

Your service coordinator is the person at your Regional Center who plans your child's services and gets them paid for. To reach them, email first. No answer in two or three business days? Call the center and ask for the coordinator on duty. Then ask for the supervisor.

The same order works at most Regional Centers, though the names change from one to the next. The Los Angeles centers we've checked ask coordinators to answer within one to three business days.

Before you start

Get three things together: your coordinator's email, the Regional Center's main phone number, and a page for writing down dates.

To find the email, search your inbox for your center's address, like @nlacrc.org, @westsiderc.org, or @elarc.org. Not sure who your coordinator is, or which center you're with? Our Regional Center lookup has the main number for every center. The front desk can tell you who has your child's file.

How to reach your service coordinator, step by step

Send one email with one question

Put your child's full name and your question in the subject line. Ask one thing, and say what you need back and by when.

A short email with one question can be answered between meetings. A long one with five questions tends to wait.

Try this: Subject: "[Child's full name]: can we meet about adding a service?" Then keep the email to three sentences.

Follow up on the same email thread

Give it two or three business days. Then reply to your own email instead of starting a new one, so your first date stays on top.

Try this: "Following up on my email from [date]. Could you answer by Friday?"

Call and ask for the coordinator on duty

Many Regional Centers keep a coordinator on duty to take calls when yours is away. The name changes by center: On Duty staff, Officer of the Day, or Counselor of the Day. Our guides to the North Los Angeles County, Westside, and Eastern Los Angeles Regional Centers name the person to ask for at each.

The person on duty can take a message, help with something urgent, and tell you who your coordinator is.

Try this: "I've emailed my coordinator twice since [date]. Who can help me today?"

Ask for the supervisor by name

Every coordinator reports to a supervisor, and some centers call that person a manager. Ask the front desk who your coordinator's supervisor is, and write the name down. Then forward your email thread to them, so they can see every date.

Try this: "Who is [coordinator's name]'s supervisor, and what is their email?"

Ask for a new coordinator if it keeps happening

You can ask for a different service coordinator. Under state law, no one stays your child's coordinator unless everyone agrees they should.

Send the request to the supervisor, in writing, with one plain reason. Your child's plan and services stay in place while the file moves to someone new.

Try this: "I'm asking for a new service coordinator for [child's full name]. We haven't had an answer since [date]."

Catch the new coordinator up in one email

A new coordinator gets your child's file, not your history. Send a short email with what's in the plan, what's still waiting, and the one thing you need next.

Try this: List what's waiting, with dates: "Asked for more respite hours on [date]. Still waiting."

If it stalls

Your coordinator left, and nobody told you. Call the main number and ask who has your child's file now. When your coordinator changes for good, the Regional Center has to tell you in writing within 10 business days.
The answer is "we'll talk about it at the next IPP." You don't have to wait for it. Ask in writing for an IPP meeting, the meeting where your child's plan is written. The Regional Center has 30 days to hold it, or 7 days when health and safety are at stake. Our piece on the Lanterman Act covers the other rules for that meeting.
It's urgent. Put "health and safety" in the subject line, and say it on the phone. At night or on a weekend, call the main number anyway. Most centers have someone on call after hours.

When to get more help at home

Sometimes the email you keep sending is about the same struggle at home. The same fight over getting dressed. The meal your adult child still can't make alone. A coordinator can approve help for that, but can't come over and teach it.

We can come over and teach it. You'd get a caring professional who holds a master's degree and has 9.3 years of experience on average. We match them to your child because they've already helped people who struggle the same way. Your Regional Center pays, so your family pays $0. Find out if adaptive skills training is the next thing to ask your coordinator for.

Questions parents actually ask

What does a Regional Center service coordinator do?

They plan services with you and write them into the IPP. They line up the people who provide them, and check that the plan is working. They don't provide the services themselves. Our guide to what a Regional Center is covers the rest.

Is a service coordinator the same as a case manager?

Yes. Some centers and families say case manager or caseworker. It's the same job.

How often should we see our coordinator?

At least once a year in person. The law requires it. You can also ask to meet any time.

Will asking for a new coordinator hurt my child's services?

No. The plan and its services stay the same. Only the person changes.

Could our IHSS or respite hours drop if we add adaptive skills training?

No. Neither one drops because you added it. Your county decides IHSS, and the state bars it from counting what the Regional Center pays for. This is the letter.