I am just trying to sort out all the government organizations—-there is the Department of Developmental Disabilities, but housing is (I think) under the NJ Department of Human Services. NJ is of course much smaller than California and things are much closer together, but there is still tremendous variety within a short distance.

There is simply a complete shortage of placements in the community—group homes and supported living environments. There is a real interest not to have disabled adults in institutions, if such is possible—-I quoted from a letter by the mother of a soon to be 21-year-old autistic adult here.

Regarding institutional placement: My husband has a first cousin, JP, who lives in a state institution and has for most of his adult life. He is severely disabled, cognitively and physically.

I know NJ has COSAC, but no other state has something really like Regional Centers, only CA has them and the IHSS program.

I went to a SEMAC presentation by Office of Client’s Rights (part of Protection & Advocacy) on the IHSS program. I thought it was from IHSS directly so I could learn new stuff, but turned out I knew more than her and she even said I could have done the presentation.

Because of RC and IHSS I will stay in CA and not go elsewhere with my two kids on the spectrum. All my family is in Hunterdon County, NJ.

Sounds promosing for NJ residents. This is the vocational day training program in San Diego that I want to look into for Matt:

http://www.stmsc.org/

And there is also the Jay Nolan Community Services here in Los Angeles County:

http://www.jaynolan.org/

Easter Seals has many places in Southern CA:

http://southerncal.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=CALA_LosAngelesCountyLocations

I asked about the housing situation as the places I’d see on the web were both for the disabled and the destitute. The representative told me that the regional center has contractors which provide housing for developmentally disabled. A typical place has six adults with a mental age between 8 and 16 years. These places have trained staff and often a common eating area. They do not include Section 8 applicants.

Is there anything like regional centers in New Jersey? If so, why can’t the person work with them.