Maine building new system for children, adults with disabilities [Video]

MAINE, USA — Maine is building a new system to ensure that one of the state’s most vulnerable populations receives consistent care.

The Lifespan Waiver is expected to clear a backlog of hundreds of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and provide new programs.

But some parents whose children have spent years waiting for housing and support worry they won’t get the care they need. 

The waiver program would start providing services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at age 14 to help them move from school-provided services into adulthood without losing that care. 

“That has been the vision of Lifespan since day one: not to have gaps, not to have people fall off the cliff,” Betsy Hopkins, the associate director of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS), explained.

Families of …