By Stephen C. Schultz
The smell of roasted
turkey filled the room with just a hint of sage. Sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie
lined the counter. I was sitting on the couch having a conversation with my
brother Dr. Jared Schultz. He and his family were visiting for our annual
Thanksgiving Day Dinner.
My brother is a
professor and assistant dean at a local university. His specialty is in
rehabilitation counseling. My career has
consisted of close to 30 years working in the field of addiction counseling and
mental health services. My other brother Scott Schultz is an estate planning
attorney in Eugene, Oregon. He has spent years advising and counseling with
families on the best ways to facilitate caring for dependents and family
members who struggle with failure to launch, substance abuse and other physical
disabilities. As parents begin to move through retirement, this process of
planning is crucial for managing family financial resources and protecting the
family legacy. My oldest daughter Stephanie has a unique duel degree in
Elementary Education and Special Education. Stephanie is currently heading up a
special education classroom of 12-14 year old students with mild to moderate
disabilities. She made an interesting observation just this last weekend when
she said,
“You know, I’m working
with the same population in my classroom, just at a slightly younger age.”
I mentioned to Jared at
dinner that there were some common parental concerns. These included helping
their teens and young adults make the transition to a self-supporting,
responsible, productive member of society. Often this is a subtle struggle after receiving substance abuse or
mental health services that grows in severity over time. While in the process of dealing with clinically
complicated concerns, they have no opportunity to focus on career and educational
aspirations. When the treatment interventions are no longer the focus, they
then feel behind in their social and career development and get discouraged. Many
young adults in the “Failure to Launch” population fall into this category.
Historically, there have
been two competing avenues for receiving career and vocational services. They
each come with government bureaucracy and generally poor customer service;
leaving families feeling overwhelmed and uncared for. Here is a little more
information about government services.
General overview of State Services (USA)
State Vocational
Rehabilitation (VR) is a program that is available to anyone with a disability
provided that they;
1. Meet State criteria and have a disability
2. The disability is an impediment to employment
3. They can benefit from services.
The vocational evaluations
provided by the State consist of testing to assess the interests and abilities
of the client. Sometimes the work and family values of the client are tested,
but this is infrequent and varies from State to State and case worker to case
worker. Case managers generally don’t make recommendations of support or train
families on how best to support the client. You may have a local case
manager say they do, but families expecting a moderate level of “customer
service” will be disappointed.
By Federal Law, VR
Services are available if a student meets the above requirements. However, in
practice, parents find themselves being passed between the local VR agency and
the school district. This is because Federal Law also regulates how Special
Education services are provided through each school district. By law, special
education accommodations and Individual Education Plans (IEP) must be provided
up to the age of 22 based on severity of the disability.
For those students who
are between the age of 18 and 22 this situation tends to be very frustrating.
Families find themselves caught in the middle of school districts and VR services;
with each saying the other agency is responsible for funding the services.
Consequently, most families simply give up seeking services.
Because Public Rehab is
a government run agency, there are some cultural and bureaucratic issues each
family should be aware of:
1.
Delays
in services. VR counselors have
caseloads of 150 to 300. While they do the best they can, they simply can't
provide customized and individualized service.
2.
Vended
services. Because of heavy
caseloads, VR counselors don't generally provide services directly. They vend
with service providers in the field. The qualifications of those service
providers are much lower, especially in providing employment services (most
have a HS diploma, or possibly a BS). Additionally, they will be limited to the
services available in the local area.
3.
The
family may have limited involvement in the process. The public VR process is very focused on the
individual, and they do not have much experience working with families per se.
It really depends on the capabilities of the rehab counselor assigned to the
case. (Families aren't able to “choose” their rehab counselor; the counselor is
assigned…luck of the draw.)
4.
The
family will have to go through the eligibility process. Students are required to wait until 1 year
before high school graduation to apply for State VR services. Often, if the
agency budget is limited, they go to what is called, "order of
selection" which requires them by law to serve the more significant
disabilities first.
A Solution for Families
If your son or daughter
has struggled with a disability of some kind or suffered with emotional, mental
health or substance abuse concerns, then a private and personalized career
evaluation is something that you may want to consider. You can also learn more about the pathway to career evaluations here.
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