Developmental services: initial intake: assessment.

Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities and their families. Under existing law, a person believed to have a developmental disability, and a person believed to have a high risk of parenting an infant with a developmental disability, is eligible for initial intake and assessment services in the regional centers. Existing law requires that initial intake take place within 15 days following a request for assistance. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2025, requires a regional center, by the end of that 15-day period, to either determine if the individual is eligible for regional center services or determine if additional assessment is needed. This bill would, for initial intakes involving a foster child, as defined, if the regional center has not determined, within the 15-day period following a request for assistance, that the foster child is eligible or provisionally eligible for regional center services, instead require the regional center to refer the foster child for, and conduct, that additional assessment. The bill would prohibit a determination not to provide additional assessment from being solely based on either the lack of specified documentation or the age of the person when they received a diagnosis of a qualifying condition, as specified. The bill would require the department to annually post on its internet website specified data relating to initial intakes, including, among other data, the number of initial intakes, and the number of initial intakes involving foster children, received by a regional center. Existing law, if assessment is needed, requires that the assessment be performed within 120 days following initial intake or as soon as possible and in no event more than 60 days following initial intake where any delay would expose the client to unnecessary risk, as specified. This bill would also require the assessment to be performed as soon as possible and in no event more than 60 days if the client is a foster child. The bill would require the assessment to be conducted and an eligibility determination to be made within the applicable timelines irrespective of whether the person, or a person acting on their behalf, possesses specified documentation. The bill would require the regional center to assist in collecting and procuring that documentation in order to ensure that assessment is conducted as soon as possible.