Family Support, funded by the Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), offers varied services to families with a son, daughter, or relative with intellectual disabilities and, in some instances, developmental delays living at home. The goal of Family Support is to provide families with the resources and services they need to maintain their family member at home. Individuals need to be eligible and approved for Home and Community based waiver services.
Description of Services
The Arc of Rensselaer County Family Support Services provides the following services to families who live in Rensselaer County and occasionally others who may live in other counties:
Hourly Respite: Provides short-term relief to primary caregivers. Social and recreational opportunities are provided one-on-one in the home or community.
Community Habilitation: Provides a goal based service, one-on-one in the home or community. Examples of some goal areas include hygiene, household chores, budgeting, or community inclusion.
Free Standing Respite: Provides weekend overnight respite services in a small home. Between four to six guests can be accomodated per weekend. Guests may choose to stay overnight or come for day visit. Guests engage in social and recreational opportunities while at the respite house.
Recreation: Provides evening and weekend recreational activities for teens and adults. These include a variety of community based opportunities for socialization, exercise and leisure.
Family Reimbursement: Provides financial resources to families that have a person with a disability living with them when their needs cannot be met by any other resource. Examples include but not limited to: Respite, sensory items, DOH approved camps, approved recreational activities.
The Arc of Rensselaer County provides residential supports to over 170 individuals who live in over 80 locations throughout the agency's service area. The Arc provides a range of services, from the traditional group home setting to supportive apartments and life-sharing. Group residential settings provide 24-hour staff supports to a group of three or more individuals. Supportive apartments provide staff supports to one or two individuals living in their own apartment as needed. Life sharing offers live-in staff support in the same home as the person being supported. Paid neighbors offer live-near supports and reside in either the same building or complex as the person supported. The residential structure varies depending on the needs and wishes of the person supported. The Arc of Rensselaer County prides itself in creatively tailoring supports around people and their families.
Types of Residential Support
Group Residential Settings: Group settings provide 24 hours support. Every person has a bedroom of their own and shares common living space, such as the kitchen, dining rooms, and some bathrooms. Staffing levels are based on the needs of the people to balance safety and freedom.
Supportive Living Arrangments: Supportive arrangements offer residential supports without 24-hour staff. Staff schedule times and activities with the person. Some examples of typical supports are money and home management, community inclusion, and relationship building. Staff are available 24-hours a day for emergencies.
Life Sharing:
Live-ins: We support a number of people who like the experience of having their own home while maintaining the safety and support of having staff 24-hours a day. This option meets the needs of those who desire or need 24-hour support in a non-traditional manner. Supports are person-specific, but in all cases the home is the person’s home and the staff live with the person supported.
Paid Neighbors: This offers companionship and support to individuals who want to live on their own but would benefit from having immediate access to 24-hour supports. Paid neighbors can provide 24-hour emergency supports. These staff live either in the same building or complex as the person they support. They are hired by the person they support and provide individual services depending on needs. One example of these services is a paid neighbor who lives upstairs from a married couple who has a toddler. The paid neighbor offered supports throughout the couple’s pregnancy and offers the couple a great balance between independence and support.
SMALL, INDIVIDUALIZED SETTINGS
The Arc of Rensselaer County prides itself in offering small, individualized settings and is transforming its larger homes to more individualized settings. For twenty years the agency has not developed a site serving more than three people. The largest site provides services to eight people. Since 2000, three group homes have been closed and supports are now provided on a more individualized basis. Another six group homes have been downsized and now support fewer people in a single setting.
FAMILY PARTNERSHIP
The Arc of Rensselaer County offers many unique options to partner with families.
The Arc worked with a family to offer them 24-hour residential support to their two children while maintaining close proximity. The family worked with the agency to convert their home into two apartments. The parents reside in the upstairs apartment and their adult children live in the downstairs apartment, which is a state certified 24-hour supervised IRA.
The Arc worked with a mother and her two adult children to individualize their supports. One son had received traditional supportive apartment services. State regulations were not appropriate to his needs, so the agency partnered with the family to transition him to non-certified, self directed supports. Her other son lived in a traditional supervised setting with two others. The agency partnered with the family to think of creative ways to meet his needs. He still receives 24-hour supports, but instead of living with two others, he lives with his mother and sister. Both men have been very successful in their individual services and neither had to change homes.
The Arc of Rensselaer County assists high school students with the transition from high school to post graduation.
The Arc of Rensselaer County has a proud tradition of partnering with local school districts to offer innovative options for students with disabilities as they prepare to transition to life after high school. Our staff work with school personnel to provide person-centered transition planning to help young people develop a direction as they move into adulthood. Students learn about the work world directly from the business community through job tours and shadowing, internships and paid employment during their last few years of high school. In addition to learning job skills, young people learn many of the “soft skills” critical to long-term success in employment. Students interested in continuing their education after high school are provided assistance in preparing for college or trade school with activities such as completing college applications, applying for financial aid, touring local campuses, class scheduling and accessing campus resources. Young people are also provided assistance making connections with adult service providers prior to graduation to insure consistent supports are available. Our staff are a source of expertise in translating NYS Education Department graduation guidelines into supports that result in quality young adult outcomes upon graduation.
College Next & College Now
Provide assistance in exploring post-secondary education.
Honoring Watervliet firemen for their inclusion of “Chief Mack".
The Community Inclusion Project is dedicated to building meaningful connections between individuals with intellectual disabilities and their communities through engaged participation in local organizations and resources. The objecitve is to provide many opportunities to develop respectful and reciprocal relationships and to increase personal growth in one's neighborhood.
This is done by promoting such valued outcomes as presence and participation in community life, exercising choice in life style and vocation, developing and enhancing personal skills. We act in partnership with each individual we support to achieve these outcomes.
As we all desire to be valued, to do good work, to be known to others in community and to be loved, we assist the people we support to achieve these typical life experiences. We do this by connecting and supporting people in employment, volunteerism, and membership in local places in a person's life.
The Community Inclusion Project is considered to be a 'Without Walls' day habilitation and supported employment program and is funded by the New York State Office of People With Developmental Disabilities.
The Arc of Rensselaer County provides residential supports to over 170 individuals who live in over 80 locations throughout the agency's service area. The Arc provides a range of services, from the traditional group home setting to supportive apartments and life-sharing. Group residential settings provide 24-hour staff supports to a group of three or more individuals. Supportive apartments provide staff supports to one or two individuals living in their own apartment as needed. Life sharing offers live-in staff support in the same home as the person being supported. Paid neighbors offer live-near supports and reside in either the same building or complex as the person supported. The residential structure varies depending on the needs and wishes of the person supported. The Arc of Rensselaer County prides itself in creatively tailoring supports around people and their families.