Are Regional Center services free?

There is a family cost participation fee for some services based on income. This is waived if your child is a Medi-Cal recipient. If your child does not qualify for Medi-Cal due to your family income, you may be able to request a referral from Regional Center for Medi-Cal’s Home and Community-Based Services for the Developmentally Disabled (HCBS-DD) waiver. Regional Center service coordinators will usually refer to this as the “institutional deeming waiver.” It’s important to keep in mind that Regional Center is the payer of last resort, which means they are required by law to use all available resources — including insurance, state and federal programs, and the public school system — before funding services or equipment.

You can learn more about this and other sources of support in our Guide to Funding Resources.