(a) (1) Any person believed to have a developmental disability, and any person believed to have a high risk of parenting a developmentally disabled infant shall be eligible for initial intake and assessment services in the regional centers. In addition, any infant having a high risk of becoming developmentally disabled may be eligible for initial intake and assessment services in the regional centers. For purposes of this section, “high-risk infant” means a child less than 36 months of age whose genetic, medical, or environmental history is predictive of a substantially greater risk for developmental disability than that for the general population. The department, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, shall develop specific risk and service criteria for the high-risk infant program on or before July 1, 1983. These criteria may be modified in subsequent years based on analysis of actual clinical experience.
(2) Initial intake shall be performed within 15 working days following request for assistance. Initial intake shall include, but need not be limited to, information and advice about the nature and availability of services provided by the regional center and by other agencies in the community, including guardianship, conservatorship, income maintenance, mental health, housing, education, work activity and vocational training, medical, dental, recreational, and other services or programs that may be useful to persons with developmental disabilities or their families. Intake shall also include a decision to provide assessment.
(3) Commencing on January 1, 2025, the regional center shall take the following actions by the end of the 15-day initial intake period described in paragraph (2):
(A) Either of the following actions:
(i) Determine if the individual is eligible for regional center services.
(ii) Determine if the regional center will initiate the assessment specified in Section 4643.
(B) Inform the individual requesting intake of the regional center’s action.
(C) If the regional center determines that the individual is not eligible for regional center services, or that the regional center is not initiating the assessment specified in Section 4643, provide the individual requesting intake and, if appropriate, the individual’s parents, legal guardian or conservator, or authorized representative, with adequate notice as required by Section 4710.
(4) (A) The department shall create, with input from stakeholders, standardized information packets to be provided to any person seeking services from a regional center. There shall be one information packet related to services provided under the California Early Intervention Services Act and another information packet related to services provided under the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act. The information packets shall be translated to provide language access, as required by state and federal law, shall be available in alternative formats and alternative modes of communication, as required by federal law, and shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(i) An overview of the regional center system.
(ii) A resource guide for consumers and their families.
(iii) Consumer rights.
(iv) Contact information for the regional center, the department, the office of clients’ rights advocacy, and the protection and advocacy agency specified in Division 4.7 (commencing with Section 4900).
(B) Each regional center shall distribute the information packets at intake, upon transfer to receiving services under the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, and upon request. Each regional center shall begin distributing the information packets within 60 days following the department providing the information packets and issuing directives regarding the distribution of the information packets. In addition to, and not in lieu of, this requirement, each regional center shall post the full content of the most updated information packet on its internet website.
(b) A regional center shall communicate with the consumer and the consumer’s family pursuant to this section in their preferred language, including providing alternative communication services and alternative formats, as required by state and federal law.
(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 192, Sec. 9. (SB 138) Effective September 13, 2023.)