How do I apply for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)?

Submitting the initial IHSS application involves three main components. First, find your local IHSS office. Second, submit the application and all relevant paperwork. Third, confirm with IHSS that all documentation has been received. The last step is crucial, and will need to be repeated for each set of documents you submit throughout the application process.

Here are some tips for applying from Public Benefits Specialist Lisa Concoff Kronbeck:

• Keep copies of everything you submit because IHSS is notorious for misplacing paperwork. If you haven’t heard from them in a few weeks, check in as they will never reach out to you to let you know they didn’t receive something.
• There is no such thing as a phone denial. They can’t deny without you going through the whole application process.
• For protective supervision and paramedical services, talk to your doctor ahead of time about what the form is asking. All answers about your child are relative to a typically developing child of the same age. Memory, orientation, and judgement can really overlap: Do they know where they live, which house is theirs, do they understand they could get hit walking by swings? Are they able to stop and consider the risk of their action before they engage in it?
• For protective supervision, mention incidents that happen at school to back up what happens at home, and back it up with info and details about what is happening at home. How often do you stop your child from potentially getting hurt? You have to show that the need is 24/7, not at predictable times (like walking to the car or cooking in the kitchen). Write that this is not an exhaustive list, that these are some of the things you see all day every day or a few times a week. The protective supervision goal in the Undivided app has a template to track behaviors.

See our comprehensive step-by-step walkthrough for resources, tips, and templates: