If my child has an eating disorder, does that qualify for IHSS protective supervision?

For protective supervision, you’re looking at cognitive impairments in memory, orientation, and judgment. IHSS might potentially view an eating disorder as intentional self-harm, so you would want to have extensive documentation about their inability to assess the risk of harm to themselves from the behavior. There are a variety of different eating situations that do require constant supervision, but you have to sort out which ones are a product of intentional self-harm and which ones are a product of not understanding the potential risk. That's where IHSS is going to draw the line: Is that self-directing behavior? It’s a difficult question.

There's also the 24/7 component; if the issue is making sure that the child eats enough at meal times, how does that impact 24/7 supervision? You really want to talk to your child’s doctor about whether this specific condition fits into the parameters of what protective supervision is.

For more information, see our article about IHSS protective supervision.