The Agency for Persons with Disabilities plans to move even more people off a waiting list after receiving additional funding from the Legislature earlier in the year.
APD administers state and federal funding to help people with developmental disabilities receive care in their homes. Families can use those dollars for in-home care and other services, such as job skill development. The state gave APD an additional $36 million, which Agency head Barbara Palmer initially believed could help up to a 1,000 people. Now the agency is closer to 1,400.
“There are 3,000 people we need to triage right now," said agency Secretary Barbara Palmer. "We’re halfway there, I’m very excited and I’m confident the governor and legislature will take a look at what can we do to get the rest of those intensive needs people off the waiting list.”
The Agency once had a waiting list of more than 22,000, but the number fluctuates monthly. Palmer has been focusing on a few high-risk groups: those with aging parents, those transitioning out of foster care and those with medical emergencies.
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