DECISION
Administrative Law Judge Jill Schlichtmann, State of California, Office of
Administrative Hearings, heard this matter on July 23, 2014, in Santa Rosa, California.
G. Jack Benge, Attorney at Law, represented North Bay Regional Center (NBRC),
the service agency.
Claimant was represented by his parents.
The matter was submitted for decision on July 23, 2014.
ISSUE
Has NBRC properly denied claimant’s request to contract with Lifehouse for
supported living services?
FACTUAL FINDINGS
1. Claimant is 23 years old and is eligible for regional center services based
upon his diagnoses of autism and a seizure disorder.
Claimant is non-verbal, has
challenging behavioral issues, and is very resistant to changes in routine.
Accessibility modified document
2. Claimant attended the Higashi School in Boston, Massachusetts from 2001
until December 2012. He has spent school breaks living with his parents. Because his
parents live in the Golden Gate Regional Center (GGRC) catchment, he was a consumer
of GGRC during those years. In August 2012, GGRC and claimant’s family met to develop
claimant’s Individual Program Plan (IPP). The IPP was finalized on June 17, 2013.
Claimant’s IPP identified long range goals, which included living in a supportive
environment where his needs and desires are respectfully met. Claimant’s IPP is
currently being revised.
3. Claimant has resided at Sweetwater Spectrum, a residential community
built for adults with autism, since early 2013.
Claimant’s father is one of the founders of
Sweetwater Spectrum, which is located in the NBRC catchment. Following claimant’s
move to the NBRC catchment area, his service coordination was transferred from GGRC
to NBRC.
4. Regional center consumers who decide to live independently, rather than
with family or in a facility, are entitled to supported living services. Supported living
services are services and supports provided by a vendor, paid for by the regional center,
that support consumers' efforts to live in their own homes, participate in community
activities to the extent appropriate to each consumer's interests and capacity, and
realize their individualized potential to live lives that are integrated, productive, and
normal. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 17, § 54302, subd. (a)(71).)
5. Before an agency may provide services to a regional center consumer, the
agency must apply to be “vendorized.” Vendors who are vendorized by one service
agency may provide services to a consumer of another service agency through a process
referred to as courtesy vendorization. Regional centers often provide services through
courtesy vendorization when a consumer is being transferred from one catchment area
to another, in order to ease the transition for the consumer
