Petition against the proposed changes in the DDA Community Pathways waiver for the cap of relatives working as DSP staff 60/40 rule.

We express our total disagreement with the newly proposed waiver changes where Person Centered approach principles and Individuals’ choices of staff are severely violated by proposed service delivery hourly limits for relatives serving as paid staff. Hiring Family as Staff (FAS) is in most cases the safest, most reliable source of support for the DDA waiver participants. Developmentally disabled Individuals should be able to choose caregivers with no limitations. Many family members work 24/7 to keep their loved one healthy and safe. If the cap on the number of hours FAS can work is implemented, in many cases they will have to work without pay (and many have had to give up careers to care for their loved ones).

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Maryland is experiencing a critical, ongoing shortage of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), with high turnover rates averaging around 50% annually, mirroring national trends. The high turnover rates means that newly hired DSP staff will not know Individual specific health and safety needs. Further on, the turnover will force families to look for new providers and supports. Providers already have high staff vacancy rates and are not able to accept new referrals. The herein described situation will lead to further multiple crises for the Individuals lacking provider caregiver support and will lead to increased incident rates. The crisis and shortage of staff capacity will lead to potential Institutionalization of individuals with much higher budgets for the State.

Having relatives employed as DSPs bring staffing stability and integrity into service delivery process. All relatives as employed meet the same training & staffing requirements as outside staff. There are no exceptions.

DDA rates are the same for relatives and outside staff. There is no savings for the MDH/DDA in limiting family DSP staff hours as proposed.

Moreover, relatives DSPs have unique abilities to meet Individuals’ needs such as knowledge who Individual is, ability to communicate with Individual, availability, ability to connect Individual to the community, special skills and training. Family members DSPs help Individuals to increase their independence, community participation, integration and belonging. Moreover, family members DSPs agree to implement Individual’s Person - Centered Plan and provide services as required by the Federal and State rules, laws and regulations of the waiver program.

For the reasons stated above, we demand that the waiver amendment proposed 60/40 rules limitations for relatives be completely removed from the waiver amendment proposal. We further demand that 40 hours limitation as adopted through Waiver Amendment #3 prior be terminated.