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OFFICE FOR CITIZENS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
 

The State Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities (OCDD) is one of four offices within the Department of Health and Hospitals.  This agency operates eight regional community service offices.  It contracts with Families Helping Families at the Crossroads of Louisiana to provide a complete group of services to local communities.  The vision of the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities is to provide a person-centered approach to services for individuals with developmental disabilities to help them improve the quality of their lives and reach their maximum potentials.  OCDD plays a leadership role in promoting quality service delivery system that provides Louisiana’s citizens with developmental disabilities with opportunities to shape their lives by means of individual choices.  OCDD will serve as Louisiana’s primary resource for state-of-the-art services.  The goal of OCDD is to support and promote the development, independence, and dignity of persons with developmental disabilities through qualitative, individualized services and programs.

SUPPORT COORDINATION

 Assist individuals to obtain needed services through OCDD Service System by completion of an eligibility determination, assessment of their needs, and development of a Plan of Support which identifies and provides access to natural community supports to meet their needs.  Information and referral to other agencies is also provided.

CASH SUBSIDY

 Flat monthly stipends to the families of children aged birth through seventeen with severe developmental disabilities.  These funds are intended to help the family meet the extraordinary costs of services and equipment needed to maintain a family member in the home.

 EARLY INTERVENTION

 Community-based services to infants and toddlers (age 0-36 months) with developmental disabilities.  Services may include, but are not limited to: family training, counseling and home visits; special instruction; speech-language pathology and audiology services; occupational therapy; physical therapy; psychological services; social work services; assistive technology devices and services.  Health services and transportation services may be provided to enable the child to benefit from other early intervention services.

 EXTENDED FAMILY LIVING

 Substitute family care delivered in the home of non-related individuals for the purpose of providing for the physical, emotional, educational, habilitative, and social needs of persons with mental retardation/developmental disabilities.

 INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY SUPPORT

 Supports that enable a family to keep their family member with developmental disabilities in the home.  Family supports include dental and medical care that are not otherwise covered, respite care, recreation, homemaker services, transportation, personal assistance services, home health services, equipment and supplies, counseling services, communications services, crisis intervention, specialized utility cost, day care, specialized diagnosis and evaluation, specialized nutrition and clothing, parent education and training.

MR/DD HOME AND COMMUNITY BASED WAIVER SERVICES

 OCDD Regional Offices are the point of entry for participation in the Medicaid Home and  Community Based Waiver.

  ICF/MR RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENT

 Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICF’s/MR) provide a broad range of residential services wherein individuals with developmental disabilities live, such as community or group homes and small or large institutions including state-operated developmental centers.

 CONTRACTED VOCATIONAL AND HABILITATIVE SERVICES

 OCDD purchases these services through contractual arrangements with private providers.  The services include, but are not limited to, supported employment and other vocational services, group models of community-based work, facility-based work and facilitative services as they relate to the acquisition of vocationally-related skills, community-based skills, daily life skills and behavior management.

 SUPPORTED LIVING

 An array of services provided in residential settings designed to allow recipients to acquire the skills and supports necessary to live as independently as possible in the community.  The residential settings may be cluster housing, apartment, a rented house, or the recipient’s own home, provided that the recipient does not live in an institution.

Link to OCDD Website:  http://www.dhh.state.la.us/ocdd/Index.htm