Family Voices Indiana

Family Voices was founded on the principle of advocacy: parents as advocates, kids as advocates, professionals as advocates. Without the brave actions and courageous words of advocates around the globe, people from every walk of life experience greater trials and less progress. Individuals with special needs are no exception to that rule. It takes fervor and faith to step out and speak up. It takes drive and the will to hear “Yes!” And, it takes leaders, such as Melody Cooper, President of Self-Advocates of Indiana (SAI) to rally the troops and motivate others to do the same. “Self advocacy is important because it gives people with disabilities an opportunity to stand up for their rights and know what they want for their life as a person with a disability. It gives you the strength to know that you can make it.” states SAI’s 2011 annual report. These principles resonated loudly during my talk with Ms. Cooper. Melody Cooper first realized the need to be her own advocate when

from  Indiana Secondary Transition Resource Center:   Selecting a diploma or opting out and choosing to leave school with a Certificate of Completion is often a tough decision for students and families.  Per new Indiana rules,  beginning in 8 th  grade , a student’s IEP must now state which track a student will pursue in high school.  Beginning in 9 th  grade  the Teacher of Record will now update students and their families every grading period about progress toward a diploma.  Moreover, the Indiana Department of Education and General Assembly are currently reviewing proposed changes to the requirements and structure of both the Core 40 and General diplomas. These changes are expected to take effect beginning with the 2018‐2019 school year. To meet the needs of students, families, and case conference committee teams now, however, we’re introducing  Indiana Diploma Decisions,  a new publication from the  Indiana Secondary Transition Resource Center

The NDNRC has funded eleven Community Outreach Collaboratives (COCs) for the second year of enrollment. The COCs will increase collaborations in the community, dissemination and outreach efforts and enrollment of people with disabilities in the ACA. The COCs will have two primary tasks: 1) build cross-disability collaborations with other disability organizations; and 2) have the cross-disability collaboration work as a dissemination and outreach resource with their local and/or state navigators and assisters. The 11 COCs are (by HHS regions) as follows: Region #1 – Rhode Island Parent Information Network 1210 Pontiac Avenue Cranston, RI 02920 Phone: (401) 270-0101 Website: www.ripin.org Region #2 – Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY 841 Broadway, Suite 301 New York, NY 10003 Phone: (212) 674-2300 CIDNY—Queens 80-02 Kew Gardens Rd. Suite 107 Kew Gardens, NY 11415 Phone: (646) 442-1520 Website: www.cidny.org Region #3 – NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Southwest Pennsy

Follow along our step-by-step guide written by two of our Health Information Specialists as they applied for and received the Family Support Waiver for their children! Family Support Waiver Journey - Part 1 Beginning Your Journey Family Support Waiver Journey - Part 2 Completing Your Journey - After you've been targeted. NEW Family Support Waiver Journey - Continues   Selecting Providers and Services Family Support Waiver Journey Flow Chart

There will be a temporary outage of the Hoosier Works Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system on Saturday, September 26 beginning at 11:00 p.m. [EDT], as the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration  (FSSA)  moves its business from JPMorgan Chase to Xerox. Hoosier Works is the system Indiana uses to deliver Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. This outage affects all SNAP/TANF EBT cardholders. EBT card benefits are expected to be available againSunday, September 27 by 12:30 p.m. [EDT] after the system transition is complete. During the temporary system outage, EBT cardholders will not be able to make SNAP purchases or access TANF benefits at any grocery stores or ATMs. EBT cardholders should plan to do their grocery shopping and/or make cash withdrawals before or after the transition period. The state’s current provider, JPMorgan Chase, has decided to get out of the business of providing EBT card serv

Your chance to comment on why you believe it’s important for ABA (applied behavioral analysis) therapy to be a covered service under Medicaid will be at a public hearing on Thursday, Sept. 10. Indiana FSSA is holding the hearing to discuss changes to coverage requirements for occupational, physical, respiratory and speech therapy services for children and youth under 21 and to add ABA to covered services, among other topics. The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Sept 10 at the Indiana Government Center South, 402 W. Washington St., Conference Center Room 14, Indianapolis. The proposed rule sets the following requirements for ABA therapy: 1. The child is eligible for Indiana Medicaid. 2. The child is at least three years old and no more than 20 years old. 3. The child has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by a qualified provider. 4. The child has had a complete diagnostic evaluation using standardized testing. 5. The child’s qualified provider recommends and ref