Spring is considered the season of new beginnings! This is fitting in the world of transition into adulthood because, during the spring, the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) begins to assign pending graduates their chosen Support Coordination Agency (SCA). It’s the perfect time to choose your own new beginning!
Selecting a Support Coordination Agency can be an overwhelming task. A person has 180+ agencies to choose from! How do you even know where to begin? To find the Support Coordination Agency that is the perfect fit for you, first ask your friends, family, school staff, and community members, “What SCAs have you heard good things about?”.
We also recommend turning to DDD, also known as “The Division”, which has two helpful resources to help you get started. They are: “Selecting a Support Coordination Agency: Making Choices, Becoming Empowered” and “Evaluating Support Coordination Services”.
You can also consider contacting DDD’s most current list of approved SCAs so that you can interview them. If this idea overwhelms you, The Arc of New Jersey has a recorded “10-in-10” podcast series where they ask SCAs ten questions about their services in ten minutes.
Once you have made your choice, you will need to complete the Support Coordination Agency Selection Form and submit it to DDD. There are instructions at the top of the form on how to send your form to DDD.
Know that this time of your new beginning can be ongoing if you choose it to be! If you want to change your SCA at any time, you can. You would just need to submit an SCA Change Form to DDD.
We understand that new beginnings aren’t always exciting, and that change can be scary. We work to make the transition into the adult I/DD service system easier for you by hosting the NJ Youth Transition Conference (YTC) each year. Bringing our transition partners into one online forum, you may find recordings from the most recent YTC helpful for you to consider new choices in services and supports that will inspire you to live the life of your choosing.
We would be honored if you chose Values Into Action to support you. We are different in that we are allies and in support of self-determined services for people who want to live lives of their own design. You can learn more about us here, and through our membership with the Collaborative for Citizen Directed Supports- NJ. We wish you the best in your new beginning!
“From the end spring new beginnings”
– Pliny the Elder