The Family Support Team provides Service Coordination and funding to families and individuals, aged Birth-23. The goal is to provide the needed information, resources, supports and funding for families, and to support each child as they grow to adulthood. The Family Support Team is made up of a supervisor/team leader and five service coordinator/social workers. Birth-3 services, including service coordination, for young children with a developmental disability or delay are supported through a contract with Goodwill Industries.

Services

• 0-3 Early Intervention
• Childrens Waiver
• Community Options Program
• Family Support Program
• Home Consultant - Long Term Support
• Residential Supports
• Service Coordination - Family Support Team
• Specialized Transportation
• Vocational Services

Birth to Three services are individualized to meet each eligible child's needs and support their optimum development. Services are family-centered, designed to assist the family support their child's development. We view the family as the child's greatest resource and work with them to provide for an array of resources to met their individual needs. Services are located in the child's natural environment, most often in their home, though it may include day care facilities or other community settings.

Three Medical Assistance Waiver programs, serving three distinct federally defined target groups of children are the Children's Long Term Support Waivers. They support eligible children who have a developmental disability, including autism, physical disability, and/or severe emotional disabilities. Services funded through these waivers are intended to enhance the child's functioning in their home or temporary substitute care setting.

The purpose of the Community Options Program (COP) is to enable persons who are elderly or disabled to live at home or in community integrated settings typical of residential arrangements in which non-disabled persons reside. It is intended to allow persons ready access to generic community resources, while encouraging more coordinated planning to lead a meaningful life in a safe community environment.

The Family Support Program may provide services and support based on the eligibility of the child with the disability. A family is eligible to receive services if they meet the Family Support Guidelines including the child must be living at home and parent(s) will be able to care for their child in their home if financial, physical, or other barriers are reduced or eliminated and adequate community support services are provided. The program is primarily intended to assist families throughout the child's school years, ages Birth to 21.

Home Consultant service is a support service to persons who receive long term supports. Home consultants assist individuals with acitivities of daily living or supportive home care. Assistance may include, but is not limited to, assist persons with meal planning and grocery shopping, daily planning, money management, and housekeeping.

Many eligible persons require support in their home or residential setting to live successfully in their community. Individuals may require assistance planning or arranging for needed supports. Typically, supports are needed to assist persons with supportive home care, daily living skills, personal care and/or supervision. Some individuals require the assitance of home modifications, personal response systems, or adaptive aids. Individuals may continue to live in their own home, share an apartment with another(s), live in an adult family care home, community based residential facility, or a residential care apartment complex.

The Family Support Team staff provide support and access to services for persons with disabilities and their families. For eligible persons, ages Birth to 23, a plan is developed based on the direction of the individual to the maximum extent possible. Service coordination determines eligibility, appropriate community providers, and financial resources available to support full inclusion in home and community.

The Long Term Support Division participates in the Winnebago County Specialized Transportation Council. Since its inception in 1988, staff have advocated and planned for specialized transportation services. Out of this planning effort evolved new relationships among providers and funding sources. Since 1988, contracts were re-established between Winnebago County and the Oshkosh Transit System, as well as between Winnebago County and Valley Transit. Under these contracts, services are organized and funded in a way that results in improved coordination and savings.

Services are delivered for the purpose of promotoing vocational participation and self-sufficiency. Services may be delivered in either community jobs or in sheltered work settings. Employment services may include, but are not limited to, vocational assessment, planning, and job development and/or coaching on the job.