Maine Children’s Alliance 2023 Maine KIDS COUNT Data Book
Maine Children’s Alliance 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Book – with a new look and features -- is now available on the MCA website https://www.mekids.org/databook/ It was a huge undertaking to redesign the book, select featured indicators and to include some comments from parents and youth about their experiences. Thank you all who have contributed data for the Data Book. As a fellow data person, I welcome your feedback and questions. Highlights of the Data Book include:
The Data Book was featured in a recent editorial in the Portland Press Herald: Our View: Child welfare report should light a fire under Maine - Portland Press Herald. Helen Hemminger Research and KIDS COUNT Associate Maine Children’s Alliance 331 State Street Augusta, ME 04330 [email protected] Southern Maine Advisory Council on Transition (SMACT)
Please join us by Zoom this Friday, May 5th at 1:00 for the last SMACT meeting of the year! Our presenter will be Diane Luce, Community Work Incentives Coordinator with Maine Medical Center. Diane will present on the Benefits Counseling Services that help Maine people understand how working affects their Social Security disability and other public benefits. Link to join: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86383263889?pwd=WU5RdnovQVgrUS9GYVpPNEZ3c25nQT09 Meeting ID: 863 8326 3889 Passcode: 781988 Maine Disability Alerts ACTION ALERT:
Dear Friends of Mainers with Disabilities, Mon May 1 at 1 pm the HHS committee will have public hearing on LD 1666, "An Act to Modernize the State Supplement to Supplemental Security Income by Updating the State Supplement and Removing Marriage Disincentives" LD 1666 would do two important things: raise Maine's SSI supplement and eliminate the marriage penalty from Maine's SSI supplement A. Raising the Payment About half of state (including Maine) supplement federal SSI payments with a "state supplement". Federal SSI payments to individuals have come up from $140 in 1974 to $914 in 2023 (more than 6.5 times higher). But in Maine the state SSI supplement is still stuck at $10 for an individual. LD 1666 would raise the statement SSI supplement proportionally with the federal payment. So instead of $10 it would become $65 (so the total of federal + state would go from $924 to $979). It would also index the state supplement to cost of living just like the federal payment is. B. Eliminating the Marriage Penalty from State SSI Supplement Under federal law, when married couple both receive SSI, their payment is only 1.5 times that of a single person. This is a significant "marriage penalty" that stands in the way of truly marriage equality. Maine doesn't have the power to change federal law, but LD 1666 would at least take a stand for disability marriage equality, by setting the state supplement for married couples on SSI at double the amount for a single person (so $130, which is double $65). To testify:
Maine Parent Federation In-Person Family Support Navigator Training NEW DATE: May 23, 20234/24/2023
Maine Parent Federation
NEW DATE! In-Person Family Support Navigator Training Cohen Community Center, Hallowell, ME Tuesday, May 23, 2023 We have changed the date of the upcoming Family Support Navigator training so there is still time to apply! Are you the parent of, or caregiver to, a child with a disability or special health care need? Would you like to share your knowledge and provide peer-to-peer support to other Maine families? If so, this virtual training opportunity may be for you! Maine Parent Federation (MPF) is seeking parents, grandparents, and caregivers to children with disabilities and/or special health care needs who would like to attend this training to become a Family Support Navigator (FSN) and provide peer support to other Maine families. The FSN program matches experienced parents with other parents who need support while learning to navigate systems such as Special Education, Vocational Rehabilitation, MaineCare, Adult Services, etc., and assists them in locating local and statewide resources while helping parents learn to advocate for themselves. During the Pandemic all support was provided through phone, text, email, and social media platforms such as Zoom. Now that restrictions are easing if both parent and Navigator agree, meetings can be held in-person. As a parent who has been involved with MPF in the past, we are contacting you to see if you would like to use your skills and knowledge to support other families. A Family Support Navigator is a part-time independent consultant position. MPF contracts with you to provide up to 10 hours of support to each family you help. We pay $15.00 per hour for direct support to a family, provide a $40 monthly stipend for phone/internet when actively working with families, and .46 cents per mile travel reimbursement. This is a flexible opportunity where you set your own hours/schedule. MPF provides on-going supervision and technical assistance. This in-person training will be held on Tuesday, May 23rd from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, There will be four other pre-recorded segments to the training that you can complete at your convenience. Once you have completed the training we will provide you with a $150 stipend. Please contact Deborah Newcombe at (800) 870-7746 or E-mail: [email protected] to receive the application and job description and/or to answer any questions. Disability Rights Maine (DRM) has partnered with the Children’s Oral Health Network of Maine to gather information about the oral health care needs of children with disabilities throughout the state. They are looking for parents, caregivers, and family members of children with disabilities to share their experiences about oral health care through a short survey and/or participating in a focus group. The results of this project will be used to support ongoing work to increase access to oral health care for children with disabilities in Maine.
You can access the survey by clicking this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MBTN22N They will also be holding a virtual focus group on Zoom on Wednesday, April 26th from 6-7pm to learn more. If you would like to join, please register at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUlcOqtpjsoEtEXLdXyUvXM6xO1cj24eTJr Join us for the last SMACT meeting of the school year. Our featured speaker will be Diane Luce Community Work Incentives Coordinator (CWIC) for Maine Medical Center. Diane will present on the Benefits Counseling Services that help Maine people understand how working affects their Social Security disability and other public benefits. The meeting is by Zoom on Friday May 5th at 1:00. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86383263889?pwd=WU5RdnovQVgrUS9GYVpPNEZ3c25nQT09 Meeting ID: 863 8326 3889 Passcode: 781988 NH-ME LEND
Please join us for our annual spring conference, sponsored by NH-ME LEND, BANDS (Behavioral and Neurodevelopmental Services) at Dartmouth Health, and the Northeast Regional LEND Consortium. When It Comes to Autism, Can We Reconcile the Medical and Social Models of Disability? Join the virtual conference: Monday, May 8, 2023 8:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m. The conference will focus on two different perspectives of autism: the medical model and the social model. The medical model views autism as a neurodevelopmental disorder that requires medical treatment and recognition, particularly for those with severe forms of autism. The social model considers autism to be a natural variation of human ability and identity that should be celebrated and accommodated like any other identity. Register Representative lectures from each viewpoint will be featured, offering insight into their unique approaches and understanding of autism. The lectures will be followed by a moderated panel discussion, during which experts will highlight the strengths and limitations of each perspective and explore potential ways to reconcile these differing viewpoints. Learning outcome(s): At the conclusion of this learning activity, (at least 75% of) participants will be able to apply the principles of both the social and medical model of autism spectrum disorder in the management of the care of children, adolescents and young adults. DHHS-OADS: Attention Section 29 and 21 Waitlist members, and family/guardians, and support staff3/23/2023
3/21/2023
Attention Section 29 and 21 Waitlist members, and family/guardians, and support staff: OADS is excited to announce the planning for new innovative services options. You may have heard about it. We are calling it the Lifespan Waiver, as a new ‘Path for ME’ for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and/or autism. We would like waitlist members of Sections 21 and 29 and/or those providing support to these waitlist members, to inform the design the of program. Your comments will be very helpful to us. To receive your comments, we have designed a survey. We hope you will take a few minutes to complete it. There are two ways to take the survey.
We will be receiving comments until 5PM on April 7, 2023, so it will be important to do this as soon as you can. Thank you so much!
For more information about the Lifespan Project and the other projects that may affect you, please visit the following web pages: Learn more about the Lifespan Project in Maine: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/oads/about-us/initiatives/hcbs-lifespan-project Learn more about the SIS-A in Maine: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/oads/about-us/initiatives/needs-assessment-implementation-project Learn more about many of our new projects at OADS: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/oads/about-us/initiatives “A Path for ME” SIS-A Updates and Question and Answer Sessions
Assessments for Sections 21 and 29 Please join the Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS) and Maximus, our “A Path for ME” assessment vendor. The session will offer updates and question and answer time. The sessions will focus on the Supports Intensity Scale for Adults 2nd Edition (SIS-A) needs assessments. These needs assessments will be for Sections 21 and 29 members and those on the waitlists. They will be required for participation in the developing ‘Lifespan Waiver’. We invite you to attend these sessions to learn about the SIS-A in Maine. There will also be time for attendees to ask questions. There are three sessions scheduled. These will be held on the 2nd Thursday of each month for April, May, and June. These sessions will be held on Zoom from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM (one hour). Additional sessions will be added in the future. All attendees are required to register for each session using the links below. A link to join the Zoom session will be sent to your email after you have registered. You are welcome to attend any or all sessions. April 13 from 4 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcld-CupjguEtbxZKEJaCs64NC8kkaDEBWE May 11 from 4 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkc-6rrz0pEtRgt5YHjYvE84VR88ZkaV0p June 8 from 4 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrf-qoqzspHd2o9NP0Bq6wUNhWSkddN6zR If you need an accommodation, such as real time transcription and captioning (CART) or American Sign Language (ASL) or other language interpretation, please contact Miranda Whalen at [email protected]. The SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act would raise the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) asset limit to $10,000 for individuals/$20,000 for couples. The legislation also adjusts those numbers based on inflation every year. This will allow SSI recipients to maintain modest savings to pay for emergencies and other unexpected expenses when they arise. Senator Collins cosponsored the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act in the previous Congress, and per reports is considering signing on this year. Also, according to national organizations advocating for people with disabilities, including ID/DD, this effort would benefit from the Senator hearing from members of the disability community in Maine. If raising the SSI asset limit would be beneficial to you or someone you care about, please consider reaching out to the Senator and asking her to co-sponsor this important legislation. You can contact the Senator by clicking this link, filling out your contact information to easily end an email via the Senator’s website.
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