Wow, I'm surprised and a bit bummed. I hail from the Midwest and really love it there. That's pitiful about the dearth of services. Does your boy get anything from the state? In Orange County, it takes four months for Regional Center to render a decision. You may want to get on their web site and review the various vendors. I thought they had a good variety of services. Also check out Empower in Buena Park. Seems like they had some good activities.

I haven't messed Medical for my son. He gets insurance through his job and he's also on my employer health plan. I simply don 't trust that program and remained convinced he's received good medical care because we use a PPO.

Has Illinois always been messed up in terms of services for folks with disabilities?

@A MyAutismTeam Member, Illinois is a wasteland of services and resources. You don't want to be here unless you are wealthy and have no need for services or can pay out of pocket. Each region has a privatized agency that does an intake to determine what is needed and when services will be needed. Those with highest need are placed higher on the lottery tier. There is a lawsuit in the settlement stages that will require the state to pull names from the lottery every year but there is no end in sight for the wait list. Pulling ten or even a hundred names every year isn't going to help when the wait list contains several thousand names. The state takes over a year to pay its Medicaid invoices, so most doctors won't accept it at all and only a few will accept it as a secondary payment. Medicaid patients wait months for a routine appointment. If you are looking to retire in the Mid-West, Michigan is a significantly better choice (just stay away from the Flint and Detroit areas).

We are planning to move out to California in August. Right now, we are looking at Cerritos, Buena Park, La Mirada, La Habra, and Eastvale. We are hoping for respite, an adult day program or sheltered work shop, and maybe some recreational activities to keep him busy once he ages out of school. He doesn't do well sitting at home all day. He is low functioning but he likes to be out and about.

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A MyAutis...

@SnowyFlamingo-Just saw your post. CA has Regional Centers in most counties that are state funded. My adult son has a job coach and respite care. He's pretty high functioning, but needs help in certain areas. Regional Center also funded in home independent living services. CA has programs, but lots of them are limited to Regional Center clients.

I hope things worked out for you. I'll be happy to share any info. I'm shocked about Illinois. I was considering moving there come retirement, but not if there's a dearth of services for disabled adults. Are parts of Illinois better than others?

@A MyAutismTeam Member - ha ha. California is so huge that I would think it would be easy to get mixed up about what is where. My in-laws are from the bay area and I still have some family out there. I lived there briefly for 8th and 9th grade, when my step dad was stationed at El Toro. So, I am not completely unfamiliar with the state.

We aren't bent on living in Cerritos but that is where my husband would be working. Ideally we would find a compromise between living near a college I could attend for Social Work or Psychology and his job.

Mostly, I am interested in any sort of programs that would allow my son to remain at home and still allow me to go to school. I don't want to place him in assisted living and he can't be alone. He is 18, so I would also be hoping for some sheltered work shop or other day program he could attend once he ages out of school.

I understand California has been struggling with their budget woes. Illinois is insane as well. Even with high taxes, our government can't crawl its way out of the pension mess they have. Programs for the disabled and elderly have been completely gutted here. Tens of thousands are on wait lists for even simple things like respite. Institutions (mental hospitals) are still being used despite losing federal funding for safety violations. Sheltered workshops are closing. Adult day programs cost a fortune and waivers aren't being issued. The wait list works off of a mysterious lottery system, so when names are pulled it could be someone that has been on the list for two days and those who have been waiting for 15 years are still waiting. Until last year, the state was known to go years without pulling a single name for services. This is just no place to have a child with special needs.

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Oops my bad! I was thinking it was in the bay area!