Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities

Family Care Program

In the family care program, the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) oversees care provided to disabled individuals who do not require the intensive level of care provided by OMRDD's developmental centers. The primary care is provided by non-family members in private homes, where the disabled individuals live. We examined OMRDD's administration of the family care program and found that improvements can be made in the procedures used to monitor program care, screen providers, and train providers.

In addition, to encourage providers to participate in the program, OMRDD may loan providers up to $20,000 to enable them to either acquire new homes or improve their existing homes to meet program standards. The loans are interest free and need not be repaid if the provider remains in the program for a certain amount of time. We identified several weaknesses in OMRDD's administration of these loans. For example, the improvements funded by the loans were not always verified by OMRDD, the additional program capacity funded by the loans may not have always been needed, and the criteria for awarding the loans were not fully disclosed. We make a number of recommendations aimed at improving program administration.

For a complete copy of 95-S-139 click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.