Good Afternoon,
March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month! I very much appreciated everyone who sent me notes (and photos!) showing how they celebrated the month. I love our innovative, bright, and dedicated provider community! Thank you for sharing with me.
QUICK NOTES
TEMPORARY CDS INCREASING END MARCH 31, 2022
As a reminder, the temporary CDS increases end March 31 (TODAY!). HBS families should adjust their budgets for April 1, 2022.
UPDATED CILA COVID GUIDANCE
The Division worked with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to update our CILA COVID guidance that you can find here. Please let us know if you have any questions.
NEW RESPITE PROVIDER TRAINING & REGISTRY
As part of a joint partnership between the Division and the Illinois Respite Coalition, (IRC) and funded through the Administration on Community Living (ACL), a new state-specific online training for individuals interested in becoming respite providers has been created. The IRC is working with nine other states in a pilot program, to bring a new virtual statewide free respite training platform to Illinois, utilizing a respite care training created by the Respite Case Association of Wisconsin (RCAW). The IRC will also be creating a statewide provider registry for individuals who have taken the training, received their certificate of completion, and are looking to support a caregiver. There will also be a statewide registry for interested agencies to also post for trained respite providers. This training and registry will be free to interested individuals and agencies. Funding for this project was made possible by RCAW, ARCH National Respite Network, and NASHP. For more information, please contact the Illinois Respite Coalition at ilrespitecoalition@gmail.com.
REGISTER NOW! LIGAS TOWNHALL
The Ligas Family Advisory Committee is hosting a townhall for Ligas class members and families including people on the PUNS list, people pre-selected or selected for services, and all others who are interested in home and community-based services options. On April 19, 1-3 pm, join us to hear from families about their experiences being selected and finding services facilitated by the Ligas Family Advocate program, Director Allison Stark about DDD's latest efforts to strengthen services, Court Monitor Ronnie Cohn, and Laura Miller from Equip for Equality. Share your experiences, bring questions, and join the discussion. These townhalls are meant to offer opportunities for Ligas class members and other stakeholders to help inform the consent decree implementation. Register for the Ligas Townhall.
ICPN 2022 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
ICPN's 2022 annual conference is being offered virtually and there is no cost to attend! There will be four sessions between April 27 through May 18, 2022. Please view and register for each session you wish to attend. 2.0 Continuing Education Units will be provided for each session. Register for the ICPN 2022 ANNUAL CONFERENCE.
Warmly,
Allison V. Stark
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Director, Division of Developmental Disabilities
Illinois Department of Human Services
600 East Ash-Building 400, Springfield, IL 62703
Tel: (217) 782 -6803
The information contained herein should not be considered a substitute for the appropriate official statutes, rules, regulations, or the advice of legal counsel.
To request to be added to our email database, or to update your contact and service information, please complete our Contact Survey.
Information provided will help us to better tailor communications to you in the future.
