Notice of Re-Organization of Children’s Department

May 1, 2022

To our valued Harbor Community;

What a challenging two years it has been. As we start to see the world gradually open up, Harbor Regional Center anticipates ongoing growth as it relates to the number of individuals whom we serve, with our center already surpassing 16,000 individuals and their families. The Children’s Department alone serves roughly 6,045 individuals and their families.

For the past six years, the Children’s Department has been one of three departments providing service coordination to our community. The Early Childhood Department has primarily overseen the support of all individuals through the intake process and simultaneously serving individuals 0-5 years of age.  The Children’s Department has been responsible for serving individuals ages 6 – 22 years, and most recently led the charge with our Self-Determination Program implementation. The Adult Department currently serves individuals ages 23 until the end-of-life.

After careful consideration, we have decided to restructure the Children’s Department into three areas of specialty focus. We will have five (5) children’s teams (5-13 years) who will focus on the early years of childhood and connecting individuals to the essential publicly funded resources; three (3) adolescent/young adult teams (14-22 years) who will focus on the transition-to- adulthood planning, and one (1) hybrid team specializing in the Self-Determination Program. While the areas of focus will be more specialized, all nine (9) teams will remain part of the Children’s Department under my direction.

We strongly believe that by breaking down the very large developmental span that we covered in the Children’s Department, we will be able to improve our overall service delivery and support system to the community we serve. Our restructuring process will begin during the month of May 2022 with an anticipated completion date of early July 2022.

During the restructuring process, maintaining valued relationships between you and your service coordination team will be at the forefront. You can expect to hear from your service coordinator in the near future to discuss any changes, which may affect you and your family.

Meanwhile, please do not hesitate to call us should you have any questions or concerns about the upcoming changes.

Sincerely,

Antoinette Perez
Director of Children’s Services
Harbor Regional Center