REGIONAL CENTERS AND VENDOR

THERE IS A DEBATE ABOUT REGIONAL CENTERS AND THE DIFFERENT VENDORS ON ANOTHER SUPPORT GROUP WEBSITE AND I POSTED THE RESPONSE BELOW

IT HAS BEEN A VERY DIFFICULT SUBJECT BECAUSE ITS LIKE BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU SO TO SPEAK ON ONE HAND THE REGIONAL CENTER CAN HELP YOU BUT ONCE AGAIN IT IS ANOTHER STRUGGLE TO GET THE SERVICES AND THEN YOU OFTEN FIND THAT WHAT YOU NEED MAY NOT BE VENDORED AND THE CLENCHER IS WHEN YOU FIND ANOTHER REGIONAL CENTER THAT DOEA CARRY THAT VENDOR BUT YOU ARE UNABLE TO GET THAT THRU YOUR REGIONAL CENTER

OK SO HERE IT GOES

once again i find myself having to get into this conversation-- and i
am sorry but i am the "nay-sayer"
Lets face it people it is just like everything else
Inland Regional Center is suppose to be there for our kids and the
families and essential that is their function-- heres the problem
they dont make it any easier then the schools do when it come to
getting services!
I have had a 15 year relationship with this specific regional center
and personally i think they stink! Their focus is more on the bottom
line then it is on servicing the kids and giving services they need!!!
The only reason we have regional centers are because there are kids
like ours -- yet they are so incredibily caught up in watching the
money that they loose sight on their purpose!
I dont mean to be a rag but i have seen it over and over again.
the parental vouchered respite -which I have continued to fight and am
still recieving is just one example
But as for other services you will find that there are other regional
centers who fund and vendor lots of things our Regional Center doesnt >
And as i am finding out even some of their vendors will tell you how
much more difficult Inland Regional Center is in comparison to others.
I was just talking to a big vendor of Inland Regional Center who
absolutely admitted to me that if i was continuing to get my center
for autism started that i would be wise to move just a little west so
I would fall into the covina-baldwin park regional center area because
they would be immensely easier to work with and would fund or vendor
much easier.
As far as getting Inland to fund vendors from other regional centers
you might be sucessful but I guarantee it wont be a cake-walk--you
will have to fight
One more thing Inland Regional Center happens to be the biggest
regional center and has as big if not bigger budget than other centers
as i said they are of the opinion or at least their rethoric is that
the more efficient and focused they are on the bottom line the more
they can recieve -- my issue is they have taken their eye off the ball-
- our kids and there is nothing wrong with being efficient but when
your clients dont benefit whats the point?
Well I aopologize ahead if i have offended anyone
however I do believe that I speak the truth
its really bad when one of their own vendors tell you what a pain they
are to work with.
By the way have any of you asked your worker what their case load is??
get ready folks most of them handle a minimum of 65 -70 client and
more of them are handling over 100 you cant even get someone to help
you with a service much less find one for you.
cindy