The Self-Determination Program (SDP) is a way to get your Regional Center services where your family runs a yearly budget. You choose the services and the people, write a spending plan, and a company called a financial management service pays them. Any Regional Center client can join, at any age, and it's voluntary.
The money is the same either way. What changes is who does the work.
How does the Self-Determination Program work?
SDP keeps your Regional Center and your service coordinator. It changes how services get bought. Five pieces make it run:
- The budget. Your Regional Center sets one amount for the year, and you plan inside it.
- The spending plan. You decide which services and people the budget pays for. The Regional Center has to approve the plan.
- The financial management service, or FMS. This company pays your workers and bills, handles payroll taxes, and sends you a statement each month. The Regional Center pays the FMS fee, outside your budget.
- An independent facilitator, if you want one. This person helps you plan and run SDP, and is paid from your budget.
- Your IPP, the written plan of your goals. SDP still runs on it, and your service coordinator stays involved.
How is the SDP budget set?
Your Regional Center builds the budget from your last 12 months of approved services. Services the IPP approved but nobody provided can be added. One-time costs come off.
The budget can't be more than traditional services would cost, and joining SDP doesn't lower it. New clients, or anyone without a year of services, get a budget from the usual cost of the services they need.
The budget can change when your needs or your life change. Ask, and the planning team meets within 30 days. Moving money from one budget line to another needs approval first.
Who can join the Self-Determination Program?
Anyone who gets Regional Center services can join, at any age. A child under 3 can join only if they qualify for Regional Center services beyond Early Start, the program for babies and toddlers.
- Your family member lives at home, in their own place, or in a small group home.
- Someone living in a nursing or care facility can join if they plan to move out within 90 days.
- Medi-Cal isn't required, but you agree to apply if your family member qualifies.
- You can leave SDP at any time. Coming back takes at least 12 months.
What does SDP ask of a family?
In SDP, you do much of what a service coordinator and an agency would do. The list, from the state's own orientation:
- Two required online orientation sessions, two hours each.
- A budget meeting, then a spending plan the Regional Center has to approve.
- Finding the people and services yourself.
- Hiring, scheduling, and supervising workers, and checking their timesheets.
- Setting pay rates, at least minimum wage, with payroll taxes and workers' comp paid out of your budget.
- Reading the monthly statement and staying inside the budget.
- Doing it again each year. At NLACRC, the planning for next year starts months ahead.
Some families want that control, and have the time for it. For others, it's one more job on top of caregiving.
SDP vs traditional Regional Center services
In traditional services, your service coordinator finds providers the Regional Center has approved, and the Regional Center pays them. In SDP, you find the people and an FMS pays them.
| Traditional services | Self-Determination Program | |
|---|---|---|
| Who finds providers | Your service coordinator | You |
| Who can be a provider | Providers the Regional Center has approved | Almost anyone qualified, including some relatives |
| Who pays them | The Regional Center | The FMS, after you approve the time |
| Pay rates | Set by the state | You set them, at least minimum wage |
| How money is approved | Each service on its own | One yearly budget, with approval to move money |
| Getting a new service | Ask your coordinator | Change the budget or the spending plan |
How to choose:
- Choose SDP if you want to hire people you already know, and you have time to run a budget each month.
- Stay with traditional services if you'd rather your coordinator line up providers, and you don't want payroll on your plate.
Either way, teaching everyday skills at home is something traditional services already pay for.
If payroll on your plate sounds like the wrong job, the traditional route is the one we work in. We send a caring professional with a master's degree and 9.3 years of experience on average. They're matched to your family member because they've already helped people learn the same skills. The Regional Center pays us directly, so your family pays $0 and runs nothing. See if adaptive skills training fits your family.
One misconception keeps a lot of families from asking for anything new. They think another Regional Center service will cost them IHSS or respite hours. It won't. Adding adaptive skills training lowers neither one, and the state tells counties to set IHSS without counting Regional Center services.
How to join the Self-Determination Program
The steps, in order:
- Take the orientation. It's two online sessions from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Part A and then Part B.
- Give your two certificates to your service coordinator.
- Get free planning help if you want it. The Regional Center can pay for a person-centered plan and up to 40 hours of coaching.
- Meet to set the budget. The Regional Center approves it and adds it to your IPP.
- Choose an FMS, and write the spending plan.
- Agree on a start date. Your traditional services keep going until the day before it.
There's no statewide timeline for these steps yet. At NLACRC, the budget meeting happens about three months before the start date. The state's Self-Determination Program page has the full rules.
Questions parents actually ask
Is the Self-Determination Program worth it?
It depends on your time. Families who want to hire people they know, and can run a budget, often like it. If you'd rather not manage payroll, traditional services cover the same needs.
Can I pay myself or a relative in SDP?
A parent of a minor child can't be paid, and neither can a spouse. Other relatives can, if they're qualified, and so can a parent of an adult.
Can I go back to traditional services?
Yes, any time. Your Regional Center writes a new IPP with no gap in services. Rejoining SDP later means waiting at least 12 months.
Does SDP change our IHSS?
IHSS stays separate. It comes from your county, and SDP can't pay for anything IHSS should cover.
Can we still get respite in SDP?
Yes, as a line in your spending plan. The person who normally gives the care can't be the respite worker, and neither can their spouse.
How long does it take to start SDP?
There's no statewide answer yet. Plan on a few months after the orientation, because the budget and the spending plan both need approval before your start date.
