The Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center (ELARC) guide

How do I reach ELARC?

How do I talk to my service coordinator?

• Ask for their direct email.ELARC staff emails end in @elarc.org. ELARC’s handbook says your coordinator can give you their direct address. Email leaves a record that a phone call doesn’t.
• Give it a day.ELARC’s handbook says coordinators check their messages and return calls within 24 hours. If you reach voicemail and need someone right now, press 0 for the operator.
• Urgent? Ask for the officer of the day.If your coordinator is out and it can’t wait, call (626) 299-4700 and ask for the officer of the day. That’s the coordinator who takes urgent calls when yours is away.
• Find the supervisor in the directory.ELARC’s staff directory lists each coordinator’s direct phone and names their supervisor. If calls go unanswered, call the supervisor. Above the supervisor is the Chief of Client Services, listed with a phone and email on the same page.
• Keep your own record.ELARC’s coordinator brochure asks families to keep a record of their family member’s history and progress. Add each call to it: the date, the person and what they said.
• Need a different coordinator?Ask the supervisor. ELARC’s handbook says that if you ask, ELARC must assign a new one. Until then, the unit supervisor keeps your services going.

What can ELARC pay for?

• Adaptive skills trainingA professional teaches daily skills in your home, step by step, so they need less help.
• RespiteSomeone stays with your family member for a while, so you can rest.
• Behavior servicesHelp with behaviors that make home life or outings hard.
• Day programsWeekday programs where adults learn and spend time with others.
• Help living on your ownFor adults who live on their own, or want to.
• Social recreation and campSports, classes and camps.
• RidesTransportation to services and programs.
• DiapersFor children 3 and older.

ELARC can’t pay for what another agency owes you. If a school, insurance, Medi-Cal or IHSS should pay, they pay first.

How do I get adaptive skills training through ELARC?

1. Ask your coordinator.Call or email, and ask to add adaptive skills training from Aldera. Copy team@aldera.org on the email. See the email.
2. Often approved when you ask.ELARC’s handbook says your coordinator can often approve a service at the time you ask. If not, the planning team meets again within 15 days.
3. Or ask for a plan meeting.You can ask for one any time. It has to happen within 30 days, or 7 if it’s needed for health and safety or to keep someone living at home.
4. We come to your home.Once it’s approved, we meet your family member at home and set the first goals with you. The hours get settled in those first visits.

Sign the list of agreed services, with start dates if known, at the end of the IPP meeting. ELARC’s guidelines say your coordinator then fills out an authorization, so ask for an email once it’s done.

How do I get records from ELARC for IHSS or Social Security?

• Ask your coordinator.Call or email your coordinator and name what you need, like the psychological evaluation. An email shows the date you asked. Skip ELARC’s public records page, which is for public information, not your family member’s file.
• 3 business days, by law.ELARC must give you access to the file within 3 business days. It can charge for copies, but no more than they cost to make. It can’t charge to find them, or at all if the cost would stop you.
• The IPP.At the end of each IPP meeting, you should get a list of the services everyone agreed to. The full IPP is yours on request within 45 days, in the language you ask for. ELARC translates the IPP, but not reports written by others.
• Help with IHSS and SSI.ELARC says your coordinator can help you fill out SSI and IHSS applications, as their caseload allows. IHSS asks for its SOC 873 form from a licensed professional, and an IPP with the same facts can also count. Social Security asks for any medical or school records you already have. If your child can't judge danger, ask about protective supervision too. Parents can get paid as the IHSS provider.

How do I get school support in East LA, the western San Gabriel Valley and Whittier?

1. Make the request in writing.Email the school, or hand in a signed and dated note, asking for a special education assessment. Say what you’re seeing at school or at home.
2. Watch for the plan.Within 15 days of getting your request, the district must send an assessment plan. Breaks of more than 5 school days are left out of the count.
3. Sign it to start the clock.From the day the district gets your signed plan, it has 60 days to finish testing and hold the IEP meeting.
4. Tell your coordinator early.You may invite people who know your child to the IEP, and your ELARC coordinator is one of them. ELARC says coordinators join when their schedule allows, so give yours the date as soon as you have it.
5. Turning 3.ELARC’s preschool guide says to start talking with your coordinator at age 2. With your written OK, your coordinator sends the Early Start plan and reports to the district.

District special education contacts

• Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD)Give your written request to the principal. Region East’s special education office is (323) 224-3300, and LAUSD’s call center is (213) 241-6701.
• Montebello UnifiedConcerns often go to the school’s Student Success Team first, but a written request starts the 15 days for a plan. The Special Education Department is (323) 887-7900 ext. 2291, and the district’s monthly parent meetings are open to all.
• Alhambra UnifiedSend a written request to your school. The Special Education office is (626) 943-3420 or (626) 943-3430, and preschool questions go to (626) 943-3562.
• Other west San Gabriel Valley districtsSan Gabriel, South Pasadena and other nearby districts share the West San Gabriel Valley SELPA, (626) 412-1438. ELARC gives a report at the SELPA’s parent meetings on Monday evenings.
• Whittier-area districts (WACSEP)Seven districts around Whittier and Pico Rivera share WACSEP, (562) 945-6431, but for ages 3 to 21 you contact your own district. WACSEP’s Infant-Family Program also serves babies who qualify for Regional Center services.
• El Rancho UnifiedContact your home school’s principal or the Special Education office at (562) 801-7310. Put it in writing, so the 15 days start.

The West San Gabriel Valley SELPA’s IEP pocket guide comes in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.

How do I become an ELARC client?

The steps

1. Call intake first.Call (626) 299-4770, (626) 299-4759 or (626) 299-4634. If intake decides an assessment is needed, ELARC mails you an application packet and sets up an appointment.
2. ELARC learns about you.They review records and may set up an evaluation. There’s no charge.
3. ELARC decides.It can take up to 120 days. A child who is 3 or 4 can sometimes qualify before having a diagnosis.

More about who qualifies: our eligibility page.

Where can parents get free help?

• Eastern Los Angeles Family Resource Center.It’s free, and it helps families of all ages, from Early Start babies to adults. It’s on ELARC’s Alhambra campus. Call (626) 300-9171, or read about it.

Quick answers