Save Our Choice: Protect Self-Directed Supports in Missouri

Please vote and fight for us to retain these valuable benefits and services

People with disabilities need to be protected! This is not fair to them…at all!!!!

Stop the cuts!!!!

CDS and HCBS matter to these DMH families!

Please help the disabled who can’t help themselves. We need this support to keep our families together in the home.

I’m against cuts to SDS.

This is an essential service to so many people with developmental disabilities. Please do not cut the funding!!

It is absolutely asinine to even consider cutting funding for those that need this assistance most!

Please don't cut this essential need please!!

Cuts would significantly put our son who is disabled at high physical risk of injury or even death. He needs to be watched over 100% of the time.

This funding is needed. Please do not take it away, you will be hurting so many.

SDS protects vulnerable humans! Do NOT take this program from them.

I'm signing this Petition on behalf of my daughter Katie, our family and all other people like Katie and their families. Our daughter Katie has twice been diagnosed with level 3 Autism. (Level 3 autism is the most severe form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), requiring very substantial support. Individuals at this level experience significant challenges in social communication and exhibit rigid, repetitive behaviors). Katie also has been diagnosed with Regression disorder which on any given day she mentally is between the ages of (6-12 years of age). She has what her psychiatrist of 7 years in Texas stated is called Multifaceted Mental illness because due to her Autism it has also caused agoraphobia, severe generalized anxiety, clinical severe depression, social anxiety, separation anxiety panic disorder, as well as a phobia of anything sharp, a phobia of going in a kitchen because she knows there are sharp items in the kitchen somewhere even if she can't see them. Her sensory issues are over stimulation when 2 or more people are talking at the same time, hearing fireworks, hearing the vacuum, loud places in general, she can not touch velvet or any fabric that even remotely feels like velvet and a slew of other fabrics. And a slew of other mental health issues. However, on top of this Katie has Type 1 diabetes, she has a bicornuate uterus that causes her immense pain 2 weeks a month pre menstrual cycle and during her menstrual cycle. She also has a gait problem walking because her the arch in her left foot is falling and causes pain upon walking and she has IBD. She can not be left alone, and needs help with every aspect of her daily living. Her SC did her budget and calculated that I care for Katie at least 13.5 hours a day. I only get paid by the DMH for 6 hours 5 days a week and 4 hours 2 days a week. I have cared for Katie since I had this sweet Beautiful girl at birth. She has has HCBS In- Home PA services since she was 18 and she will be 35 this year. I have

I strongly oppose any changes to 9 CSR 45-3.080 that weaken or restrict Self-Directed Services. These regulations were created to promote independence, dignity, and truly person-centered care. The current and proposed administrative interpretations are doing the opposite. Rigid budget formulas and unrealistic Back-Up Plan requirements do not reflect the reality of today’s caregiver shortage. Families are already struggling to find consistent, qualified support. Adding more administrative barriers forces families out of the SDS model entirely and puts individuals at risk of losing care or being pushed toward institutional settings. Self-direction only works when flexibility is allowed. Limiting paid family support in critical situations removes the safety net many individuals depend on. It also increases caregiver burnout and destabilizes households that are already carrying the bulk of the responsibility. Most concerning, these changes contradict the Person-Centered Planning process that is supposed to be the foundation of Missouri’s developmental disability services. Standardized caps and inflexible rules cannot meet individualized needs. When budgets no longer reflect real costs of care, families are left with impossible choices. I urge the Missouri Department of Mental Health to pause these changes, engage in meaningful public review, and amend the regulation so that self-directed services remain truly self-directed. Policies should support families, not drive them away from the very system designed to help them stay in their homes and communities. Please protect SDS and the people who rely on it.

SDS needs to keep funding for continuing care for these families and individuals. SDS needs to be allowed to have sick days, PTO, and raises. This is to help Provide proper care for these families and reduce burnout for the workers. The workers deserve raises and benefits. These families deserve as much help as they can get. To reduce the burnout, compassion fatigue, and turnover rate help these families out. Don’t reduce their pay. Add benefits.

I take care of a special needs adult that thrives on this program.

Support for these people and those who support them is critical to keeping them a viable part of the community. Additionally, it is more cost effective in the long run.

NO BUDGET CUTS!

We as a community must care for our special needs population —- they are the angels of our world.

Remove the restrictions of being a SDS paid caregiver from the wording of every role or position that may legally need to be held by a parent of adult child with disabilities. Give parent caregivers the needed resources to support their high need loved ones.