TransparencyMessage to Our Community
Alta California Regional Center (ACRC) has become aware of recent claims that our regional center has intentionally and unlawfully held up intake processes and delayed eligibility determination timelines for those seeking our services. ACRC takes all allegations of unlawful practices very seriously. In short, these claims are false.
Our priority is to support those who are seeking service through the intake process as swiftly and efficiently as possible while ensuring we carefully consider each eligibility decision as required by law. Meeting legal timelines has been challenging due to a sharp increase in the number of applications submitted, compounded by a clinical resource shortage. This is not isolated to ACRC but is a trend experienced statewide. As the regional center system grows faster than our administrative budget, regional centers must balance hiring between intake and ongoing case management. Despite this challenge, ACRC has implemented multiple strategies to address timelines and to enhance our process to better serve our community. We are proactively working to expand bandwidth and address ongoing obstacles. The actions we have taken include:
- Internal analysis of workflow processes to identify system barriers to enhance efficiency and customer support.
- Development of Intake software program to support online applications, document upload, and timeline tracking at each phase of the application timeline.
- Increased clinical resources both internally and through external contracts. ACRC employs five (5) clinical psychologists, two (2) psychological associates, three (3) medical doctors and 53 contracted/vendored clinical psychologists. Increasing contract capacity continues.
- Increased number of ACRC intake specialists.
- Overtime for intake and clinical staff.
- Tracked and measured improved outcomes as a result of employed strategies to address intake capacity challenges.
As a result of the strategies implemented, ACRC has experienced a steady decrease in intake timelines. In December 2024, there were slightly less than 2,000 applicants in the intake process. Of those, just over 50% were already beyond the required timelines to complete the intake process. In July 2026, the number of people applying for services had increased nearly 20%. Of those applicants, 57% were within the required timelines. During that period, ACRC both increased capacity and performance. ACRC remains committed to continuing this progress and build upon the momentum.
ACRC operates with full transparency and has publicly available data and information that highlights the actions listed above, including board meeting and executive committee minutes which can be found here:
Additionally, any claims that ACRC staff have acted unlawfully, lied, or misrepresented ACRC’s processes and protocols that are regulated by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS), are also false. ACRC staff are well-trained, understand compliance mandates, and consistently work to provide the timely delivery of services to all the individuals we support through the intake process.
It remains ACRC’s top priority to provide services to applicants and the community in a timely manner and support all eligible individuals with developmental disabilities through quality services and support.