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I/DD In-home Supports

In-home supports are for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who live at home. 

This page summarizes these service options. 

If you or your child want these services, you must apply with your county’s I/DD program. If eligible, a services coordinator or personal agent will help you manage your services.

Supports you can getWays to manage support workers

What supports can I get at home?

There are a lot of options. A services coordinator or personal agent will explain these in more detail. They will work with you and the people you choose to build your support plan. You can choose the supports and provider types that help you meet your goals and need.

Here are some of the options:

A support worker comes to your home and helps you with important tasks. This includes taking care of your body, home and life. Your worker is paid for every hour they support you. You can get these supports at your home or at other places in your community.

Here are some examples of attendant care:​

Support taking care of your body

  • Getting dressed
  • Taking a bath or shower
  • Eating meals
  • Going to the bathroom
  • Moving around: walking, getting in and out of bed, and using a wheelchair​

Support taking care of your home and life

  • Making meals
  • Cleaning the house
  • Doing laundry
  • Shopping for food and other things you need
  • Paying bills and using money
  • Communicating with others, including on the phone or computer
  • Getting to places in your community

​A support worker does the same tasks as the attendant care tasks listed above. As they assist you, they teach you to do tasks more independently.

​​These supports are only for adults. 

Day support includes skills training to participate fully in your community. This includes communications and other social skills. 

Standard Model Agencies provide this service.

​​Do you have a family member or friend who assists you at home? Relief care is when a support worker comes to your house so the people who usually support you can take a break. 

It doesn’t matter whether the people who usually support you are unpaid or paid. You can use relief care either way. This is a daily service.

If you get some of the services listed above, you may still have more needs. There are more services to help you meet your goals at home and in your community. 

Talk to your services coordinator or personal agent about other supports you might need like:

  • Technology that helps to meet your needs
  • Community transportation (generally for adults)
  • Employment services (ages 14 and up)
  • Behavior supports
  • Nursing services
  • Other supports

The Children's Extraordinary Needs ​Program is for children under 18 with very high medical or behavior needs. Parents and guardians in the program can be paid to provide care to their child. 

Learn more about this program.

Children's Intensive In-Home Services (CIIS) helps families care for their children who have significant disabilities and complex care needs. CIIS has three programs: Intensive Behavior, Medically Involved and Medically Fragile.

Learn more about CIIS.

How do I manage my in-home support workers?

There are three ways to get services at home. Each option has a different level of support from a provider agency. 

  • You can manage Personal Support Workers (PSW) yourself. 
  • You can split the work with a provider agency.
  • You can have a provider agency manage your workers. 

You choose the best option that works for you. You can even choose more than one provider type to work with. Your services coordinator or personal agent can explain these options more and answer your questions.

Here are the three options:

Manage Personal Support Workers yourself

Most self-directed. You are the boss.

  • You choose, hire, train and supervise your workers.
  • You manage their schedule and tasks.
  • You have the most responsibility and the most control.

This option is best if you want to be very involved in managing your supports. 

Learn more about options

Split the work with an agency

Shared direction. You share responsibilities with an agency. This is called Employer Model Agency or Agency with Choice.

  • You help choose and train your worker.
  • The agency does things like hiring, paperwork, payroll and background checks.
  • You stay involved but don't manage everything.

This option is good if you want to be involved but get help with employer tasks.

Learn more about options

Have an agency do the work

A lot of agency support. The agency works for you and manages your workers. This is called Standard Model Agency.

  • The agency hires, trains and supervises your workers.
  • You help make decisions about what kind of support you need.
  • The agency helps you achieve your goals.

This option is good if you want to get support without the stress of managing workers.

Learn more about options

Learn more about the options

Most self-directed – you are the boss. ​​

When you choose to hire a PSW, you're the employer. You make many of the decisions about who supports you and how they provide help. PSWs provide hourly attendant care, skills training and relief care. Here's what that looks like:

Hire your worker

  • You hire your worker. They can be someone you already know or someone new.
  • You can use Carina, a free matching service that connects you with qualified workers.
  • You can also find workers by posting a job or asking in your community.

Make sure your worker is qualified

  • Your worker must pass a background check and finish an orientation class before they start getting paid.
  • You and your worker must fill out forms with PPL (Public Partnerships, LLC). These forms set up payroll and taxes.

Make a service agreement

  • You and your services coordinator or personal agent will write a Service Agreement.
  • This agreement says what tasks your worker can do.
  • It also works as your worker's job description.

Manage your worker

  • Set your worker's schedule
  • Arrange backup care in case your worker can't come
  • Train your worker on how you want things done
  • Talk with your worker and fix problems, if they come up

If you need help with these responsibilities, you can get free support from:

If there are tasks you cannot do, you can choose a proxy (someone you trust) to do some of the employer responsibilities for you.

Get your worker trained

Pay your worker

  • ​Your worker enters their hours in eXPRS (the timekeeping system).
  • PPL will pay your worker for the hours they worked.

Work out problems

  • If your worker has a problem with their job, they will talk to you about it.
  • If you can't help, they can ask your services coordinator or personal agent.
  • They can also get support from their union or the ​Oregon Home Care Commission.

If you chose to work with an agency to manage your support workers, you have two options:

  1. Employer Model Agency (you split the work)
  2. Standard Model Agency (the agency does the work)​

What these options have in common

The Office of Developmental Disabilities Services (ODDS) makes sure all agencies meet the following requirements.

The agency:

  • Gets reviewed for compliance to the rules and standards at least every two years.
  • Will report serious incidents when they happen.
  • Ensures that you, the person getting the services, is part of decision making about your workers.
  • Offers you opportunities to choose, train and evaluate the workers that support you.
  • Has a back-up plan when workers are absent.

​ Your support workers:

  • Pass a background check.
  • Are at least 18 years old.
  • Are trained in CPR and first aid within 90 days of hire.
  • Have 12 hours of training each year. This includes training to report incidents and abuse. This also includes specific training on how to support you.
  • Have at least 6 hours of training before working alone with you.
  • Are trained on your In​dividual Support Plan or Service Agreement​ ​​​and other documents.​

What is different about Employer Model Agencies (EMA)

You share responsibilities with the agency to manage your workers. You choose who to hire and what they do. The agency helps with paperwork and helps you be a good manager for your workers. Workers can provide hourly attendant care, skills training and relief care.

If you choose an Employer Model A​gency, you can expect:

Focus on​ self-direction and control

What you want and need come first. The agency helps you learn about self-direction. The agency makes sure you make decisions about your care. You work with the agency to:

  • Find workers
  • Set workers' schedules
  • Train workers on what you want and need
  • Correct problems with your workers

Employee qualification, payment and compliance

The agency ensures your workers are:

  • Qualified
  • ​Paid accurately and on-time
  • Following all the rules

Continuous improvement and quality services

  • The agency will have a way for people getting services, workers and others to be involved in how the agency operates and improves over time.

What is different about Standard Model Agencies (SMA)

The agency manages your workers. When you select a Standard Model Agency you get the most support from an agency. Workers can provide hourly attendant care, skills training, relief care and day support activities.

If you choose a Standard Model Agency, you can expect:

Support to meet your goals

  • The agency will make sure you get the support you need to meet your goals.
  • The agency will have a plan when workers are sick or absent.
  • The agency will communicate with people on your support team including your services coordinator or personal agent, nurses, behavior specialists, etc.

Highly trained and prepared workers to meet your needs

  • The agency will recruit and hire your workers, create a schedule, and arrange for training. This includes at least 24 hours of training every year.
  • The agency will make sure your workers follow your plan and all the rules. This includes written information about how to support you and keep you safe.
  • The agency will always have a supervisor on call to resolve problems​.