1. Call the DDA office for the Region (Central, Western, Southern, or Eastern) in which you live. Request a copy of the application for services. Or download the Application Form, complete and send it to your Regional Office.
2. When you receive your application, make several copies in case you want to change information or use a rough draft for practice.
3. Fill out the application. Be sure to include all the information you feel DDA needs to know in order to serve you (or the person for whom you are applying) appropriately. Include copies of all requested forms or evaluations, and include others which you feel may be helpful. You may want to include a current psychological evaluation, recent physical examination, the current or most recent Individualized Education Plan, Vocational Evaluation, and other important paperwork.
4. Do not send your only copy. Keep at least one copy of the complete packet.
5. When completing the application, present a realistic picture of your challenges and skills, or those of the person for whom you are completing the application, challenges and skills. Be certain that you communicate the reasons you need services.
6. Services applied for include Residential, Vocational/Day, and Individual and Family Supports (F/ISS). You may apply for one or more of these services. Definitions of each are listed in the Guide Glossary. You may receive a different level of eligibility determination for each of the services for which you apply. For example, you may receive a determination of high priority for funding for F/ISS, but have to wait a while longer before you are able to receive funding for Vocational Services.
7. If you have any questions while you complete the application, please call your Regional DDA office or the Resource Coordination office for your county.
8. Submit your application to the DDA Regional Office.
9. You will receive a letter from the DDA confirming receipt of your application. This letter does not offer a decision about the application.
10. The Administration will assign a representative to conduct a personal interview with you and ask questions about your application. This representative may be an employee of the Developmental Disabilities Administration, or a Resource Coordinator. Resource Coordinators do not work directly for DDA, but do work closely with DDA. DDA has contracts with different agencies to provide resource coordination to particular counties or regions of the State.

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11. During your interview, emphasize again your needs and challenges. Present copies of any new relevant paperwork, and discuss any new information that may affect your application.
12. The DDA representative will make a recommendation about your application. The representative will recommend (a) whether or not the applicant is eligible for services, (b) which services the applicant is eligible for, and the priority recommended for funding for each service, provided funds are available.
13. DDA reviews the recommendations and application. A decision is made regarding the eligibility for services described in 12, above. This decision is forwarded to the DDA representative in a letter.
14. If the decision regarding your application or eligibility is not what you wanted or expected, you may file an appeal. The DDA representative can help you with this process.
15. If the decision is that you (or the person for whom you are applying) are eligible for DDA funding, you should meet with your Resource Coordinator (who should be assigned to you by this point) and develop a plan of support. Support plans, which may also be called Individual Plans, Person Centered Plans, or Essential Lifestyle Plans, give a general picture of the services you seek and should identify lifestyle choices, preferences, and needs of the person with a disability. Use this guide to identify agencies that provide the services identified in the Support Plan.
16. If your Resource Coordinator indicates that you are a priority for services through DDA, you should begin your search for provider agencies. Request information from those agencies, and schedule visits with those in which you are most interested. Give agencies copies of your Support Plan and ask them how they would provide services around the expectations of the plan. Do not be afraid to ask questions. This is a very important decision. You may want to speak with individuals served by the agency, or with their families, regarding services provided.
17. Once you have selected your top candidate in one or more areas of service, you may be asked to complete an agency application for services. The agency will then submit a formal proposal to your Resource Coordinator and/or the Regional Office. The proposal includes a service design and associated costs. If the proposal is acceptable to you and your Resource Coordinator, then your Resource Coordinator will work with DDA to secure funding for the proposal. In some situations, you may be asked to select another agency.
18. DDA wants this process to work well for you. Please ask for assistance or raise questions along the way.

Application For Services Forms

Print out the form for the Region in which you live.

• Central Maryland Regional Office 
  Central Maryland Regional Office - Spanish
  (Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Harford County, Howard County)
• Eastern Shore Regional Office 
  Eastern Shore Regional Office - Spanish
  (Caroline County, Cecil County, Dorchester County, Kent County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County)
• Southern Maryland Regional Office
  Southern Maryland Regional Office - Spanish
  (Calvert County, Charles County, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, St. Mary's County)
• Western Maryland Regional Office
  Western Maryland Regional Office - Spanish
  (Allegany County, Carroll County, Frederick County, Garrett County, Washington County)

These forms are also available in fill-in-format that you can download and complete on your computer.

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Complete and return to:

• Central Maryland Regional Office

DDA - CENTRAL MARYLAND REGIONAL OFFICE
1401 Severn Street
Suite 200
Baltimore, MARYLAND 21230

If you have questions call: (410)902-4500.

• Eastern Shore Regional Office

DDA - EASTERN SHORE REGIONAL OFFICE
ATTN: ELIGIBILITY AND ACCESS UNIT
1500 RIVERSIDE DRIVE, SALISBURY MD 21802

If you have questions call: (410)334-6920; toll free 1-888-219-0478.

• Southern Maryland Regional Office

GAIL SINGLETARY, ELIGIBILITY UNIT
SOUTHERN MARYLAND REGIONAL OFFICE
312 MARSHALL AVENUE, SUITE 500
LAUREL, MARYLAND 20707

If you have questions call: (301)362-5100; toll free 1-888-207-2479; TDD (301)362-5131.

• Western Maryland Regional Office

DDA - WESTERN REGIONAL OFFICE
1360 MARSHALL STREET
HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND 21740

If you have questions call: (301)791-4670; toll free 1-888-791-0193

The freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view and print PDF files.

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Fill-in-forms

Fill-in forms allow you to enter information while the form is displayed by an Adobe Acrobat 3.0 (or later) product and then print the completed form out or save it. Fill-in forms give you a cleaner crispier printout for your records and the ability to email your completed form to us.

Please review the fill-in-form instructions for software requirements and detailed instructions on the usage.

• Central Maryland
• Eastern Shore
• Southern Maryland
• Western Maryland

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Fill-in Forms Instructions

Overview

Fill-in forms use the features provided with Acrobat 3.0 products. Currently, there is no computation, validation or verification of the information you enter and you are still responsible for entering all required information.

Software Requirements

To view, complete and print fill-in forms you'll need the freely available Acrobat Acrobat Reader software installed on your computer. Acrobat Reader does not allow you to save your completed forms to disk. The ability to save completed forms is available commercially with the Adobe Acrobat 3.0 (or later) product suite.

Completing the Form

• To download the form your web browser may be configured with an Acrobat plug-in to automatically open the file within your browsers window upon download. To save the file directly to disk right click on the link then select "Save Target/Link As.." when presented with a menu.
• Use Acrobat 3.0 to open the file if necessary.
• Select the hand tool from the Acrobat toolbar menu. You can use the hand tool to move the page around so that you can view all the areas on it.
• Position the hand pointer inside a form field and click. The I-beam pointer allows you to type text. The arrow pointer allows you to select a check box, a radio button, or an item from a list.
• Use your mouse to select an area of the form that is not inside a form field before printing your form. If a form field is active (contains the blinking bar) the contents will not print. You may also use the save tab to save your form.
• If the fill-in form is displayed within your web browsers window be sure to use the printer button on the Acrobat toolbar menu to print the form instead of your web browsers print function.

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