Empowered FuturesSelf-Determination Program
What is Self-Determination?
A different way to get your Regional Center services. Same eligibility, same rights, but you hold the budget and you decide who provides what.
The Self-Determination Program, usually called SDP, is a California program for people served by a Regional Center. Instead of the Regional Center choosing from its list of vendors and paying them directly, you get an individual budget. You decide which services and supports go in it, who provides them, and how much of the budget each one uses. A Financial Management Service handles the payments. Self-Determination is voluntary, and you can return to traditional services if it is not working for you.
Traditional services and Self-Determination, side by side
Traditional services
- The Regional Center chooses from its vendored providers.
- Each service is authorized and paid separately by the Regional Center.
- You choose among the providers already on the list.
- Pay rates are set by the state rate schedule.
- Changes go through your service coordinator, one request at a time.
Self-Determination
- You hold an individual budget for the year.
- You write a spending plan that says where the money goes.
- You can use vendored providers, hire your own staff, or both.
- You set wages within the limits of your budget.
- A Financial Management Service pays everyone and handles payroll.
Who can join
- Anyone with an active Regional Center case, at any age, and any regional center in California.
- You have to complete the free SDP Orientation first. It is two sessions over Zoom, run by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. See the upcoming dates.
- You do not need a family member to run it. Self-advocates can run their own program, with or without help from people they choose.
What changes, and what stays the same
What stays the same. Your Regional Center eligibility, your service coordinator, your IPP, and your right to appeal a decision. The Regional Center still has to agree that each service meets a need in your plan.
What changes. The money is yours to plan. You choose the people and the services, you set the schedule and the wages, and you can move funds between services during the year as your needs change. In return, you take on the planning and, if you hire staff, some of the responsibilities of an employer, with a Financial Management Service doing the payroll and tax work.
How to start
(714) 591-0464. Tell me where you are and I will tell you what comes next. After we talk, you get an email with a breakdown of what we discussed and what I advised, so you have it to keep.
Step two Sign the release and the agreementTwo short forms. Then we start on your Person-Centered Plan while you complete the free SDP Orientation, which the state requires. I will walk you through registering.
Step three We build your planEight steps from your first meeting to the day your program begins. See what each one involves and how long it usually takes.
Already in SDP?
If your program is already running, I take on ongoing support: spending plan changes, FMS changes, new service requests, utilization checks and year-end reconciliation. See what that looks like.
Questions?
Ask me anything about Self-Determination.
A short call answers most of it. No cost, no commitment.
Ready to start your SDP journey?
Reach out and I will walk you through the very first step. No pressure, and no cost to get started.
Serving self-advocates and families across every California Regional Center.