Community Support Services is committed to providing inclusive and innovative community-based services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their pursuit of individually chosen life goals to live, work, learn, interact with others, and recreate in their community.
By the mid-1990s, the voices of people with developmental disabilities and their family were being heard. People wanted to be included in their community and be supported to interact regularly with friends and family members. The era of state-run institutional care was coming to an end. New models of services were emerging which enabled people to live, work, attend school, and enjoy social/recreational activities with needed support. Maryland was closing state institutions and bringing back those who had been placed previously into out-of-state facilities for the disabled. There was an urgent need to build provider capacity across Maryland and in 1994 CSS was established to meet the challenge to develop innovative community-based models of service in Montgomery County.
Our story began in August of 1994 with a two-week summer day camp for twelve children. That year there were no other summer camp programs available in Montgomery County during those two weeks for children with developmental disabilities. The day camp was located in the basement of a church, and the structured program supported children so they could participate in community activities within walking distance. The same summer, two young women entered the newly established adult residential and employment services with CSS. Julie and Shannon became ambassadors for the CSS model, as people seeking services could now see what was possible for them and how they too could live in their home community. Others in need of support quickly found their way to CSS, new homes opened with newly hired staff, and more lives were transformed. In the first year, CSS partnered with the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) to develop comprehensive service plans for six young adults moving from state and private residential institutions. CSS developed community-based service plans with these adults and their families to identify where each person wished to live and with whom. Townhouses or condominiums were licensed for two individuals, who also received supported employment and professional services. As new individuals became eligible for DDA funded services, CSS developed individualized plans with adults with challenging behavior, in need of intensive supports, to enable them to live and work in their community as desired.
In 1995 CSS began providing DDA funded family support services, which assisted families with needed supports to enable their children to live safely in their family homes. Services provided included after-school programs, summer camps, environmental accommodations, specialized equipment and in-home support. The Governor’s Office for Children, Youth, and Families, working through the Local Coordinating Council, facilitated collaboration among state agencies responsible for children with intensive needs who were in out-of-state placements or at risk for such placements.
That same year, as a provider, CSS worked closely with the OCYF, other lead agencies, the MSDE, and the DHR in the State’s locally administered Systems Reform Initiative to provide wrap-around services to Montgomery County children and their families in order to return and divert out-of-state placements. CSS partnered with Montgomery County Public Schools and the State-established Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth, and Families to develop creative models of service, including job coaching, residential support, community instruction, and behavior supports for students with severely challenging behavior. CSS’ staff worked with the disability services unit of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services to provide in-home supports, recreational programs and transition services to youth with severe developmental disabilities.
In 2000, we realized that there was yet another need in the community. Individuals living with their families in Montgomery County wanted more options as they transitioned to adult services and in response CSS began offering adult day services.
In 2005, CSS became an approved provider under the Maryland Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Waiver Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. CSS continues to provide, through the autism waiver, therapeutic after school services, intensive individual support services, residential, and family consultation.
Realizing that more special educational services were needed, the Marcia D Smith School opened in 2006 with the support of the county school system. Since it’s opening the school has prepared students for a seamless transition to adult services.
CSS exists because families and the state of Maryland took a giant leap of faith and entrusted their children to a newly created provider. Individuals and their families helped design the services they wanted to live the lives they desired. Our plans to provide quality services became reality; community homes were established, dedicated staff were hired and trained, professional services were identified, and individualized community experiences arranged.
Every year has seen more growth as we listen to and answer the needs in our community and the number of children and adults supported in a wide range of services continues to increase. Beginning with the success of that first two-week summer camp, the children’s camp grew to include all days off from school, an after-school therapeutic program, recreational Saturday programs, holiday camps, and wrap-around services in family homes. CSS now supports over 250 people across programs and employs over 600 staff. As the DD waiver has evolved, CSS has adjusted services to comply with the service definitions and continues to develop individualized, person-centered plans for each person. CSS is approved or licensed to provide 36 different services included currently in the DDA waivers. All CSS services are determined to be compliant with the community settings rule. CSS remains committed to the use of its collaborative strength and administrative flexibility to support children and adults with challenging behavior to be included safely as they choose in their community.
9075 Comprint Court • Gaithersburg, MD 20877
[email protected]
Tel: 301-926-2300 • Fax: 301-926-6780