Transition to Adult Services Often Rough

Up until the age of 21, federal law requires local school districts to provide educational and support services for developmentally disabled individuals – either within the public schools or by paying for a private school to do so.
Once they become adults, that responsibility shifts in New Jersey to the Division of Developmental Disabilities. But the transition is rarely a smooth one.
Division case managers, families and school officials are supposed to meet well before a child’s graduation to work out a plan for the services he or she will need as an adult. But that doesn’t always happen, and even when it does, the division doesn’t connect families directly with agencies that fit the disabled individual’s needs.