San Andreas Regional Center (SARC): San Jose and Salinas

How do I reach San Andreas Regional Center?

What does San Andreas Regional Center do?

• Adaptive skills trainingOn SARC’s own list of services for ages 3 to 22 and for adults. A professional teaches daily skills at home, so your family member can manage more alone.
• RespiteSomeone looks after your family member so you can recharge. Families can get up to 30 hours a month and up to 21 days a year, based on need.
• Behavior servicesHelp with hard behavior. Parents take part, and a group parent class comes first when it fits.
• Day programsUp to five days a week for adults 22 and up, or 18 and up once school is done.
• Independent living skillsTraining adults need to live on their own, or more on their own at home, usually 8 to 24 hours a month.
• Social recreation and campArt, dance, music, camp and even private lessons. SARC won’t make you give up respite or use up IHSS first.
• TransportationChildren get rides only if the family proves in writing it can’t drive them. Adults get them when public transit won’t work.
• DiapersFrom age 3, when insurance or another program won’t cover them.

SARC pays last. It steps in when no public or private program can meet the need, and parents of young children still cover what they would for any child.

Who qualifies for SARC, and how do I apply?

Step by step

1. Start the intake form.Fill out SARC’s online Intake Interest Form, or call the number for your county. A parent or guardian starts it for a child, and an adult or their conservator for an adult.
2. A screening within 15 working days.Once SARC has the records it asks for, an intake service coordinator screens the request within 15 working days. The person applying has to come to the intake interviews.
3. SARC decides.The full assessment is done within 120 days. If your family member is eligible, the first plan comes within 60 days.

Who qualifies, in more detail: our eligibility page.

Quick answers

How do I reach my SARC service coordinator?

• Find them in the directory.Look up your coordinator in SARC’s staff directory, which you can sort by office. Then email, so your request is in writing.
• Can’t connect?SARC doesn’t post a reply time. If you’re having trouble reaching your coordinator, SARC says to email info@sarc.org.
• No duty coordinator.SARC doesn’t name a daytime duty person. Call your coordinator’s direct line from the directory first, then the office’s main line.
• Ask for the District Manager.Each coordinator works in a unit, set by ZIP code and age, that a District Manager runs. The staff directory lists the District Managers by unit.
• Track it.Keep the date, the person and the next step for every call and email. It’s your proof if a request stalls.
• Asking for a change.SARC tries to keep families with the same coordinator. If a problem can’t be fixed, contact the District Manager, and you can ask for another coordinator.

How do I get adaptive skills training through SARC?

1. Email your coordinator.Say you’d like Aldera’s adaptive skills training, and send a copy to team@aldera.org. Start from this email. Say which skills are hardest right now.
2. Raise it at the planning meeting.SARC talks requests through at a planning team meeting, and you can ask to change the plan at any time. State law sets that meeting within 30 days of your request.
3. If it needs an exception.A request outside SARC’s usual rules gets an answer within 15 days, at another planning meeting.
4. Check, sign and start.Read the plan and find adaptive skills training in it, then sign. Once SARC approves it, we come to your home and set goals with you.

SARC updates the plan at least once a year, and your coordinator meets with you in person at least yearly.

How do I get my family member’s evaluation and IPP from SARC?

• Ask by email.Tell your coordinator which reports you need and where to send them. A written request is easier to follow up on.
• 3 business days.State law gives SARC 3 business days to let you see the file.
• For IHSS.An IPP that a licensed professional signed can stand in for the IHSS health form, the SOC 873, when it covers the same facts. SARC’s evaluation also helps when you ask for protective supervision, or when you want to become your own child’s paid IHSS provider.

How do I get school support from San Jose to Salinas?

1. Write to the school.Ask for a special education assessment in a dated letter or email. Keep your own copy.
2. 15 days to a plan.The district must answer with an assessment plan within 15 days. Breaks of more than 5 school days don’t count.
3. 60 days to an IEP.When the district has your signed plan, testing and the first IEP meeting must happen within 60 days.
4. Bring your coordinator.Ask your coordinator to come, and bring SARC’s reports. The law lets you invite people who know your child.
5. Close to age 3?At least 90 days before age 3, SARC reviews an Early Start child’s records to see if regional center services continue.

Special education contacts in SARC’s four counties

• San Jose UnifiedWrite a letter asking for an assessment; the district responds within 15 days. For preschool, enroll first through the Enrollment Center at (408) 535-6412. Records: specialed@sjusd.org.
• East Side Union HighSpecial Services: (408) 347-5180, or use the contact form on the district’s site.
• Santa Clara UnifiedCall Special Education at (408) 423-2087 or fill out the district’s request form, in English or Spanish. Preschool requests go to spedoffice@scusd.net.
• Pajaro Valley UnifiedTalk with the school psychologist or the principal; anyone worried about a child can refer. Special education office: (831) 786-2100, ext. 2130, or selpa_office@pvusd.net.
• Salinas City ElementarySpecial Education: (831) 784-2211. The office has a parent coordinator and an interpreter on staff.
• Monterey Peninsula UnifiedGive a written referral to the school psychologist at your child’s school. Before kindergarten, call the Birth to 5 Program at (831) 901-5029. Special Education: (831) 645-1207.
• San Benito CountyThe county’s 11 districts share one special education office, at (831) 637-9269, ext. 313.

Every district follows the same state timelines. The Santa Clara County Office of Education’s special education department is at (408) 453-6542, and the Monterey County SELPA at (831) 755-0342.

Where can SARC families find support?

• Santa Clara County: Parents Helping Parents.In San Jose, with help in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Call (408) 727-5775 or email info@php.com.
• Santa Cruz and San Benito counties: SPIN.The Special Parents Information Network has offices in Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Hollister. Call (831) 722-2800 or email info@spinsc.org.
• Monterey County: Special Kids Connect.In Salinas. Call (831) 372-2730.
• Groups in Spanish and Vietnamese.SARC lists Spanish-language parent groups in Gilroy, in Monterey County and online, and a Vietnamese group run with Parents Helping Parents.