Sparky and Christon’s Story

This story is about Sparky who is just about to turn 21. Sparky has a diagnosis on the autism spectrum. He received services through the Autism Waiver and was in line for funding from the Governor’s Transitioning Youth Initiative for DDA day services.  You see where this is going right? The Autism Waiver is for people under 21 years of age and Sparky’s waiver services were ending June 30th. His Service Coordinator from SCI (the best service coordinating agency in the state, yes, we are biased!) was right on track with transitioning Sparky to the appropriate adult DDA services as of July 1st. However, Sparky’s mom was concerned that changing from a school routine to a day program routine as well as possibly losing his at-home routine would have a detrimental effect on his progress and development.

You see Sparky has worked with the SAME in-home personal assistance provider, Christon, six days a week for over 10 years! For anyone that has been in the field for a while, this length of time with the same staff is a rarity. With Sparky aging out of the Autism Waiver at the end of June, he was at risk of losing funds to maintain
Christon’s support in the home. Sure,  he could request Personal Supports  from DDA, but that isn’t covered under the GTYI and certainly wouldn’t take effect by July 1st. Like most individuals on the autism spectrum, Sparky is super routine-oriented. A drastic change such as losing Christon’s supports for a prolonged period of time could have been detrimental. That’s where Community First Choice (CFC) stepped in!

Sparky’s Service Coordinator provided his mom with information about the CFC program, which includes in-home personal assistance services.  After making the initial referral and undergoing the assessments from the local health department, Sparky was deemed eligible for CFC services and his mom chose SCI as his Supports Planning Agency. His new SCI Supports Planner met in May to discuss Sparky’s needs and routine and how to best transition services from the Autism Waiver to CFC Personal Assistance. Together the team mapped out Sparky’s personal assistance needs and gathered information from his IP as supporting documentation for requested CFC services. Because of this great team effort Sparky’s plan for CFC personal assistant hours was approved.

But that’s not all. Next came the personal assistance provider hurdle.  All CFC personal assistance providers must work for a licensed Medicaid agency which Christon did not. Sparky’s Supports Planner assisted Christon in securing a reputable provider agency that was willing to take on Sparky’s case and hire Christon to be his staff.

With SCI’s great team members, Sparky had no lapse in his personal assistance hours! His Autism Waiver Services ended on June 30th, and his CFC services began July 1st. He was able to keep his same home routine with his same staff person – just as we set out to do! Great job Team!