Community Integrated Living or Home-Based Services: Questions Families Weigh

Where a person lives is one of the biggest questions in an adult's plan. Some families have been asking it for years, and some are asking it for the first time. Blue Cap offers two different kinds of support connected to home life: the Community Integrated Living program and Home-Based Services. They are not rivals. They answer different situations, and the best way to choose is to understand what each one actually does.

What Community Integrated Living describes

Blue Cap describes its Community Integrated Living program as a variety of supportive living arrangements in the community. People live in their community with staff support for all aspects of daily living, for caring for their home, and for interacting and participating in their community. The program summary puts it simply: Community Integrated Living services basically supports life.

Two phrases in that description deserve attention. The first is a variety of arrangements, which tells you that the setting is not meant to be one-size-fits-all. The second is participating in their community, which makes the neighborhood part of the program, where it might otherwise be scenery outside it.

What Home-Based Services describe

Home-Based Services are different in structure. Blue Cap describes them as a facilitator who supports families receiving services for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are living at home. Service Facilitation includes case management to help individuals and families gain access to needed Waiver and other Medicaid State Plan services, as well as medical, social, educational and other services.

Blue Cap adds that Service Facilitators are responsible for day-to-day oversight and administration of the service plan, and for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of the individual. In other words, a person stays in the family home, and a facilitator helps hold the pieces of support together. Blue Cap's Home-Based Services Coordinator is Carmanleatha Meeks, who can be reached through the main office.

Questions families weigh

Neither option is a better choice in the abstract. Families tend to compare them through questions like these, and the honest answers often differ from person to person within the same family:

• What does your family member say they want? Some adults are eager for a place of their own, and some feel most at ease at home.
• How much hands-on help does a normal day require, and who provides it right now?
• Is the current arrangement sustainable for everyone, including parents and siblings, over the next several years?
• Does your family member have friends, work or activities that depend on where they live?
• How would a change feel for someone who relies on routine, and what could make the transition gentler?
• Who would coordinate appointments, paperwork and services, and does that person need support too?
• What would your family member miss about the current arrangement, and what would they gain?

Write the questions out and answer them separately from your family member where possible, then compare. Differences between the two sets of answers are not a problem. They are exactly what a planning conversation is for.

These choices are not permanent verdicts

Families sometimes treat this decision as final, and that pressure can make it harder. Needs change over a lifetime. Many people use home-based support during one period and consider other arrangements in another. Think of the first choice as the right next step, rather than the last one, and ask any provider how changes are discussed when circumstances shift.

It also helps to remember that both paths are built around the individual. Blue Cap states that all programs and services are designed for each person, and that everyone takes part in developing a Person-Centered Plan reflecting needs, dreams and desires. A living arrangement that fits on paper but ignores the person's own wishes is not a good fit.

Starting the conversation

Blue Cap's How to obtain services page explains that everyone seeking services needs to be enrolled in the Illinois PUNS database and should begin at the point of entry, an Independent Service Coordination or Preadmission Screening agency. The DD helpline at 1-888-DD-Plans, or 1-866-376-8446 for TTY, can help you find the right one. Questions about what each Blue Cap program does are welcome after that.

For adult services, including Community Integrated Living, call the main office at (708) 389-6578 and ask for Marge Pyzik, Director of Adult Services, at extension 102. For Home-Based Services, the main office can connect you with the coordinator. You can also write to info@blue-cap.org. The Supports and services page on the Blue Cap site describes both programs in Blue Cap's own words.