AAIDD POSITION STATEMENTS

AAIDD/ARC Position Statements

SERVICE COORDINATION

POLICY STATEMENT

Children and adults with mental retardation and related developmental disabilities and their families must have readily available assistance that is affordable and appropriate to find use, evaluate, and coordinate services, supports, and resources in their communities.

ISSUE

Our constituents and their families often have a hard time finding and coordinating services and resources to meet the range of personal needs and preferences necessary to ensure quality of life and full inclusion in the community. Funding and supports systems are frequently complex and therefore difficult to navigate. In many places, assistance to individuals and their families is limited and service coordinators are required to assist more people than they can possibly serve. These systems are often oriented to filling slots in the existing system rather than to meeting people’s needs. Moreover, as service coordinators research options, they often ignore supports and resources that are available to all other citizens.

POSITION

Our constituents and their families must have ongoing access to effective, responsive, and reliable individual service coordination as needed. Service coordinators must be funded at a level so that they work with only as many people as they can assist effectively. Service coordinators must:

Follow the wishes and needs of each individual through an organized planning process. As they help design, coordinate, and monitor supports and services, they must enable people to explore options, then find and use resources in their communities. Service coordinators must be knowledgeable enough to help people make informed decisions based on reliable information.
Develop formal and informal supports around the individual rather than try to fit the person into existing services because of availability. Informal supports are natural supports such as family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.
Represent and advocate for the interests, preferences, and dreams of the individual and, when appropriate, the family.
Assist individuals and families so that they can independently coordinate their own supports and services if they so desire or hire someone of their choice.
Be independent of providers of services, local or state government, and funding sources to avoid conflict of interest.
Share information about desired supports and services as well as system gaps with funders so that systems become more responsive to people’s desires and needs.

Adopted: The Arc, Congress of Delegates, November 9, 2002
AAIDD Board of Directors, May 28, 2002