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The Family Advocate
August 2016
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Governmental Affairs Update
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By: Sharon Levine, Director of Governmental Affairs & Communications
The need to increase wages for our hard-working Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) continues to be a top advocacy item for The Arc of New Jersey, and this past month Executive Director Tom Baffuto pushed for higher earnings for DSPs at a State House press conference. Senate President Sweeney hosted the event to highlight human services industries in need of increased funding. The press conference was a chance
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Event Spotlight
Webinar: School Anxiety and Refusal in Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
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Stay up to date with what's happening! Save the Date and mark you
r
calendars for these upcoming events
.
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What's In Your Child's IEP?
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Special Education Requests for Due Process and Mediation Are Now Accepted Electronically
Beginning July 1, 2016, the
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) will accept requests for mediation, a due process hearing, emergent relief (petition only; attachments must be sent separately via regular mail) electronically through an OSEP email address. The newly created email address will be used exclusively for the submission of requests and will not be used to communicate with the parties or their representatives. Completed petitions must be saved as PDF documents and submitted as an attachment to an email sent to:
[email protected]
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Community Health Law Project Announces It Is Now Accepting New Clients Under a Division of Developmental Disability Contract
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The Community Health Law Project announced that once again its attorneys and advocates can provide legal and advocacy assistance to individuals and families in the community who are receiving services from the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). The
Community Health Law Project provides representation to residents of New Jersey through its five regional offices and four satellite offices.
Attorneys and advocates will provide representation and brief service in many civil law issues and in entitlement cases. Assistance will be available in areas including:
- Housing advocacy such as landlord-tenant disputes;
- Public entitlements, including eligibility for SSI, SSDI, public assistance, and food stamps;
- Medicaid, Medicare, and other healthcare issues such as managed care disputes;
- Child support, visitation, domestic violence;
- Barrier-free accessibility, American with Disabilities Act and New Jersey Law Against Discrimination matters;
- Surrogate decision making issues including wills, living wills, advance directives, powers of attorney, and uncontested guardianships (also limited guardianship and conservatorship).
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Need a Speaker For Your Upcoming Meeting?
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Looking for a speaker to attend your next meeting, professional training day or parent group?
The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute is proud to offer workshops and seminars on a wide variety of topics.
Topics can include:
- Post Secondary Options for Students with Developmental Disabilities
- The Basics of an IEP
- Navigating the System (early intervention through adult services)
- The Keys to a Smooth Transition into Adult Life
- Public Policy and Advocacy: A How-to Guide for Families
- Promoting Self-Advocacy
- Overview of Developmental Disabilities
All workshops are customizable to fit your group's needs. Visit our
website
for more information.
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Where Will Your Child Transition This Month?
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Transitions from one life setting to another are challenging, complicated events for most people. However, these challenges may be magnified for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Each month we will share information about how you can help your loved one plan ahead.
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New Fact Sheet and Checklist
Transition services are vital to helping students move from school to adult life.
Transition planning is a formal process of long range cooperative planning that will assist students with disabilities to successfully move from school into the adult world. Transition planning is a process mandated by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Planning for transition services should begin at 14 and
must be included in the IEP when the student reaches age 16.
With the importance of this transition planning in mind, The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute has developed a fact sheet and checklist to assist families through the process. Click the images below to download. To download past fact sheets, click HERE.
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Click the image above to download.
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Click the image above to download.
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Understanding Your Rights Under HIPAA
Most of us believe that our Medical information is private and should be protected. However, as a parent of someone with an intellectual and developmental disability, you need access to your loved one's medical records. From time-to-time, direct support staff and other professionals may also need access to your loved one's health documents for things such as filing an appeal. Knowing who and how to access medical information in your absence is key to future planning.
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Do You Need More Help Navigating the System?
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Are you a caregiver, individual or professional in need of help navigating the system? The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute can assist you regardless of the individual's age. Click HERE to submit a Problem Intake Form online or download the Problem Form HERE and email it to [email protected].
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Join the Conversation Online
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The Family Institute:
Planning For Adult Life:
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Smart Start Preschool Readiness Program - Union County
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The Arc of Union County's Children's Services & Family
Support Department, in collaboration with The Arc Kohler School is now offering a 4th session of it successful
Smart Start Preschool Readiness Program
.
This is a 6-week preschool readiness program for children ages 18 months- 3 years old. The children will experience modified classroom routines such as circle time, story time, music and art, and will target skill areas including but not limited to social skills, attention skills and imitation skills. The 6-week program will be facilitated by Coordinator of Behavioral Supports, Eileen Mastricova and other early intervention practitioners. Non-Early Intervention children and siblings are welcome!
While your child is experiencing preschool with his or her peers, parents will be able to interact with one another. Parents are required to stay on site during the sessions and throughout the 6 weeks, we will have some of the parent meeting facilitated by a variety of agency staff and outside professionals on a variety of topics.
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Employment: How to Access Support Services
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The Arc of New Jersey's Project HIRE
The Arc of New Jersey's Project HIRE is a supported employment program designed to connect people with disabilities to integrated employment opportunities in their community.
The program assists adults with disabilities find and maintain competitive employment. The program also assists middle and high school students in their transition to adult life with its
School-to-Work
program.
Project HIRE is now also approved to provide Trial Work Experience services to clients with the New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVRS). Trial Work Experience is a new DVRS-funded program that will give adults with disabilities the opportunity to explore career options and sample employment opportunities prior to competitive placement.
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The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute needs your help!
We are looking to expand our list of
support groups offered in New Jersey.
If you know of a support group that could offer help or guidance to i
ndividuals with a disability, p
arents, caregivers or s
iblings,
please click
HERE to submit your Support Group's information.
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Partners in Policymaking Now Accepting Applications
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New Jersey Partners in Policymaking is an 8-month leadership development and advocacy education program for adults with developmental disabilities and family members. The goal of program this is to prepare the next generation of disability advocates to work toward meaningful change in our state.
Participants selected for the program will learn about best practices and important areas for advocacy from nationally-known experts through a series of educational leadership development sessions held one weekend per month, beginning in November of this year and ending next June.
Applications must be received by
September 9, 2016. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by
September 30.
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Great Work Happening! There are a lot of changes taking place in the service systems for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Families need a place to go to get up-to-date, accurate information and assistance with issues and problems. That place is The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute.
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OUR SUCCESS
Each month more than 225 families and professionals contact The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute looking for information and assistance. Our dedicated staff make sure that they understand the system and get the help they need.
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OUR SERVICES
In addition to one-to-one advocacy, we offer a wide variety of resources for families caring for a loved one with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including: * Webinars * Podcasts * Fact sheets * Workshops * Trainings * Go-bags * Printed materials * and more!
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HELP US GROW THE ARC OF NEW JERSEY FAMILY INSTITUTE!
 Your donation to The Arc of New Jersey Family Institute will ensure this vital program will continue to help the thousands of New Jersey families struggling to care for their loved one with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Donate $100, $50 or even $25 to help make a difference today!
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Other Ways to Give
Do you shop on Amazon.com? Now those shopping trips can benefit The Arc of New Jersey all year round!
It's simple to set up.
- Log into your Amazon account through www.smile.amazon.com.
- When prompted, choose "The Arc of New Jersey Inc." as your charity of choice and Amazon.com will donate a portion of your purchase amount to us, at no extra cost to you.
You Can Also Donate Your Car!
Donate your car, van, truck, boat or recreational vehicle! You get a tax deduction and The Arc of New Jersey gets a donation. Simply click on the link below, fill out an online form and select The Arc of New Jersey as the donation recipient. Within 1-2 business days, a representative will be in touch to arrange for towing at no charge.
Learn More HERE.
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Understanding Gift Taxes
Did you know that the federal government allows taxpayers to transfer up to $14,000 each year to family members without triggering the gift tax? This can be a great opportunity to begin transferring assets to your family during your life-time instead of leaving it entirely to your executor or administrator to handle
through your estate.
However, if one of the possible recipients of such a gift is a person with an intellectual or developmental disability (I/DD), you will want to consider how you can make the transfer without endangering current or future government benefits. A special needs trust (SNT) is one way to handle that situation without creating negative consequences for the person with I/DD. If you need legal assistance, especially with the creation of a SNT, you should use the services of an attorney who specializes in special needs planning. To learn more about SNT's and other planning options for a person with a disability, please go to:
https://futureplanning.thearc.org.
In Part 2 of this article, to be posted next month, you can learn how you can use the tax laws to your advantage when creating your estate plans. In the article you will learn more about the annual gift exclusion, the lifetime exemption and other types of tax deductions that can help you when planning for the future and how you want to pass your assets along to your family. After reading these articles, use the opportunity to review our
planned giving webpages
to learn more about possible gift options that can be used to benefit The Arc of New Jersey.
If you have any questions about the information provided or if you would like to talk about making a gift, please contact us at [email protected].
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