Community Living and Supported Services

UCP of Greater Kansas City exists to positively affect the quality of life for people with disabilities. For many years people with disabilities did not have the services, supports, physical housing, and personal relationships needed to live a full life in the community. Public policy hurdles, lack of funding, and negative attitudes were all barriers. Our community living services all work to reduce and remove those barriers and promote a good quality of life, with flexible and individualized supports, in the same communities enjoyed by all of us.

We believe that a good quality of life exists for our consumers when they:

• Receive the support, encouragement, opportunity, and resources to explore and define how they want to live their lives.
• Choose and direct the services and supports that will help them live meaningful lives.
• Lead a life rich with friendships.
• Have their rights, dignity, and privacy protected.
• Are allowed to take risks in their choices.
• Are assured of health and safety.*

We believe that a wide array of support offerings are necessary to provide choice and match support intensity to needs and lifestyle design. While all households are different, we define our three types of service as group living, individualized supported living, and community integration. In all community living services, our staff teach and assist people with daily living tasks, health monitoring, transportation, meal planning and preparation, and recreation. The type and intensity of these services vary by program based on the level of need and funding (from 24 hour per day staffing to 2 hours per month), diagnosis (people with Prader-Willi Syndrome have specific health and dietary needs), age, and health status. Public funding for community living services is supplied by:

• Federal Medicaid (through the Medicaid waiver for Home and Community Based Services)
• The Missouri Department of Mental Health
• County boards, such as Developmental Disability Services of Jackson County-EITAS
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Expected results from all of our community living services include:

• Increased inclusion in community activities.
• Increased or maintained ability to perform activities of daily living
• Increased self-direction, self-determination, self-reliance, and self-esteem.**

*American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, “Policy Statement – Quality of Life”, May 28, 2002

** CARF International, Employment and Community Services Standards Manual, 2006

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Group Living services are one of three types of Community Living and Support services provided by UCP of Greater Kansas City.  Group Living services are provided in settings of 4-9 individuals where support staff are available on-site 24 hours per day.  These services are provided in houses or buildings owned or leased by UCP, currently in the following locations:

• Southwood Group Home, 6 residents - south Kansas City near 85^th & Oak
• 36^th Street Group Home, 8 residents – central Hyde Park
• Penn Place Apartments, 9 residents – Westport
• Glen Arbor Group Home, 4 residents – Red Bridge area
• Willow Group Home, 4 residents - south Kansas City near 103^rd & Holmes
• Winslow Group Home, 4 residents - south Kansas City near Bannister and Lydia Ave.
• Myrtle Group Home, 3 residents - south Kansas City near Red Bridge
• Newton Group Home, 5 residents - Grandview near 71 Hwy & Blue Ridge Blvd.

The Goal:  To provide a safe, comfortable home & training to support each person’s chosen lifestyle, develop daily living skills, facilitate community integration, & maximize self-sufficiency. 

Services Provided:

1. Assistance & training in activities of daily living

2. Health monitoring, planning, & medication management

3. Training in skills to assist community integration

4. Academic and social skills training

5. Transportation

6. Financial management

7. Recreational Opportunities

Supported Living services are one of three types of Community Living and Support services provided by UCP of Greater Kansas City.  “Individualized Supported Living” (sometimes called “ISL”) was introduced as a new model for residential services in Missouri in July 1990.  The concept and funding mechanism allows people to establish their own homes outside of group living.  Supported Living separates services from facilities, limits households to three consumers, and establishes customized staffing supports for people living in a home of their choice.  Many group home consumers have moved from houses with seven to eleven people into apartments with one or two roommates.  Twenty-four hour per day staffing is often not needed, so staff support is based strictly on need and can fluctuate as needs do.  UCP of Greater Kansas City began to provide services to individuals in supported living arrangements in 1991 and the numbers have continued to grow. 

Our organization began to offer supported living services in Kansas City in 1991. Without a doubt, the funding of supported living services has brought about the greatest changes in our field of service in over twenty years.  Consumers have gained many new opportunities for choices and control of their own lives – including more choice over roommates, where they live, and multiple lifestyle issues.  The funding mechanisms promote flexibility so that the level of funds can go up or down as people’s need for supports do. 

The Goal:  To assist individuals in maintaining a home & roommate relationships of their choice, and provide an individualized level of staff counseling, teaching, & direct assistance under a flexible plan of service.

Services Provided:

1. Locating/furnishing a home, and selecting roommate(s)

2. Training in skills to assist community integration

3. Academic & social skills training, including self-advocacy, money management, obtaining other social & community services

4. Meal planning, shopping & oversight

5. Health monitoring, planning, & medication management

Community Integration services are one of three types of Community Living and Support Services provided by UCP of Greater Kansas City to people with developmental disabilities.  Typically a consumer in Community Integration needs less support or qualifies for less funding than people in group living or supported living services.  This may include people whose room and board needs are met in a natural home or by another service provider. 

The goal of CI services is to achieve and enhance integration and membership for the individual in their community.  This is accomplished through participation in a range of activities in the community and through the provision of ongoing support to assist a person in accessing the resources of their neighborhood and the city at large.  Staff assigned will visit the person in their home, arrange for and accompany him/her on outings or appointments (including medical appointments), or assist with meal planning and shopping.

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At specific program sites, UCP of Greater Kansas City provides community living services to men and women with Prader-Willi Syndrome.  The syndrome, named after two doctors who began writing about it in the 1950’s, is a complex genetic disorder rooted in chromosome 15 and occurring once in every 12,000-15,000 births.  Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) typically causes:

• low muscle tone,
• short stature,
• incomplete sexual development,
• cognitive disabilities,
• problem behaviors, and
• a chronic feeling of hunger that can lead to excessive eating and life-threatening obesity.

The most complete source for information about PWS is the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA).

In 1987, our organization opened the first and only specialized group home in the State of Missouri to serve individuals with Prader-Willi Syndrome.  Today, we remain the largest – and only specialized – PWS Program in Missouri, and one of the largest residential providers for PWS in the nation with two group homes and services in six supported living arrangements. 

This unique syndrome presents special and significant challenges throughout the lifespan, and our program is specifically designed to meet these challenges.  The accommodations within our services are provided in three key areas:

Ø      Diet and environmental management – Both the meal service (under the supervision of registered dieticians) and food control support people in losing and maintaining weight to promote health.  Because of the usually severe drive for food, all access to food is controlled in homes serving people with PWS.  Exercise is also promoted with a goal of 30 minutes per day for everyone.

Ø      Positive behavior support – Self-regulation of social behaviors is often very weak in people with PWS.  Characteristic behaviors include temper tantrums, violent outbursts, obsessive-compulsive behavior, oppositional and rigid reactions, and stealing.  Staffing ratios, staff training, and support plans all address this area.

Ø      Medical concerns – A variety of health concerns common to people with PWS require vigilance and extra medical attention.  These include scoliosis, diabetes, high pain threshold, osteoporosis, sleep apnea, and skin picking.

The Goal of our services to people with PWS:  To provide treatment to meet the needs of people with Prader-Willi Syndrome, including behavioral interventions, environmental structure, and training to lessen the impact of health & behavioral problems which impair community integration and self-sufficiency.