Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-92
Section 3305 - Pilot projects for family support services(a) General rule.--The pilot projects shall include the provisions set forth in this section, which provisions shall serve as a basis for Statewide expansion.(b) Administration.--The department shall administer the project directly or contract with a private disability-related organization or organizations to administer the elements of the project.(c) Eligibility.--Families residing in this Commonwealth that include at least one person with a disability are eligible for family support services under this act. The department shall give first priority to families not eligible for any other family support services and second priority to those families eligible for, but not currently receiving, any family support services.(d) Types of services.--(1) The types of services and supports to be provided and the organization or person to provide them shall be selected, consistent with the intent of this act, by the family and shall not be prescribed by the department or the administering agency.(2) Administering agencies may use family support funds to contract directly with providers for necessary services only when the arrangement will facilitate rather than limit family choice. The supports or services which are selected may benefit the family as a whole.(e) Control.--When a person with a disability becomes 18 years of age, that person shall make decisions regarding family support services unless the person is adjudicated incapacitated. When a person with a disability is under 18 years of age or has been adjudicated incapacitated, the decision making for services shall be shared by appropriate family members, including the person with the disability to the extent of the person's ability.(f) Payment.--(1) Each family may choose the payment method, including, but not limited to, cash advances, cash reimbursement and vouchers. In determining the amount of support to be provided, the administering agencies shall consider income, family composition, number of persons with disabilities, the related costs to the family of the disability and the costs of the service being requested from this project.(2) The family shall be accountable for payments received and complete all reports required by the administering agencies.(g) Nonduplication.--The family support system required by this act shall be separate from, but parallel to, the Office of Mental Retardation's existing Family Resource Service. The family support system shall serve persons with the full range of disabilities, including mental retardation, but may not be used to pay for services for which funds are available to the family from some other source such as the Office of Mental Retardation program.(h) Coordination.--The family support program shall coordinate and, when necessary, establish interagency agreements with other related public and private programs.(i) Advisory committees.--(1) Each administering entity shall establish an advisory committee to provide guidance and input on all matters pertaining to the delivery of family support services, including, but not limited to, the development of payment policies.(2) Membership of an advisory committee shall include a majority of persons with disabilities and family members of persons with disabilities. Every effort shall be made to include recipients of family support services and to reflect the diversity of disabilities.2004, Nov. 30, P.L. 1561, No. 198, § 5, imd. effective.