What Is a Regional Center in California, and Who Qualifies?

Choose the day you asked. For a child aged 3 or older, you see the law’s latest date for each step.

California regional centers · children aged 3 and older

What happens after I call, and by when?

Choose the day you asked. For a child aged 3 or older, you see each step the law sets, with the latest date for it.

Choose the day you asked

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Or use

Today

Example: you asked on Monday, March 1, 2027 Intake at the latest on Mar 22 2027. If every step takes its full time, the first plan is due by September 18, 2027.

Ask the center which day it is counting from, and get the answer in writing. The law counts the 15 working days from your request. Disability Rights California describes intake as the first meeting. The state counts the 120 days from the day the center opens the case for assessment.

15 working days is about three weeks. We count Monday to Friday and take out no holidays, so a holiday pushes the date later.

The steps for a child aged 3 or older

1. Step 1 Mar 1, 2027

   You ask

   You can ask for your own child: call, email or write. The state calls this first contact a referral. Your child does not need a diagnosis first. Write down the date of your first contact.

2. Step 2 · within 15 working days Mar 22, 2027

   Intake, and the center’s decision

   Monday, March 22, 2027 at the latest, counted from the day you asked. By then the center must decide whether your child is eligible, or whether it will assess your child. It must tell you what it decided.

3. Step 3 · within 120 days Jul 20, 2027

   Assessment finished

   Tuesday, July 20, 2027 at the latest, counted from the latest intake date. The limit is 60 days where waiting would put your child’s health or safety at risk or delay their development much further. It is also 60 days where your child would be at imminent risk of a more restrictive placement. The 60-day date is Friday, May 21, 2027.

4. Step 4 · within 60 days Sep 18, 2027

   First plan, if your child is eligible

   Saturday, September 18, 2027 at the latest, if the assessment took its full 120 days. The 60 days count from the day the assessment is finished, so an earlier assessment brings an earlier plan. Services cannot start until you sign the plan.

If the center says no

A no must come as a written notice. Two deadlines count from the day you get it. We can’t print those dates, because they depend on when your notice arrives.

• 30days to keep services running. This applies when your child already gets services and the notice would change them. Your request must reach the state Department of Developmental Services (DDS), or be postmarked, within 30 days of the notice. It must also come no later than the day the change takes effect. Then the services stay the same during the appeal.
• 60days to appeal. You can ask for an informal meeting, a mediation or a hearing, within 60 days of the notice. Send the request to the state department. Before March 1, 2023 it went to the center.

These are the law’s outer limits, and a center can move faster. Each date is counted from the latest date of the step before it. No date here is a promise about your child’s case.

Is your child under 3? Early Start has its own 45-day clock →

See every step and deadline as a table

Each step for a child aged 3 or older, its legal limit and its latest date. Example: you asked on Monday, March 1, 2027.

Step	The limit in law	Latest date	Source
You ask	Anyone can refer. No diagnosis is needed first.	Monday, March 1, 2027	DDS guide, February 2025
Intake, and the center’s decision	Within 15 working days of the request. Counted Monday to Friday, with no holidays taken out.	Monday, March 22, 2027	Welfare and Institutions Code 4642
Assessment finished	Within 120 days of initial intake. The state counts calendar days.	Tuesday, July 20, 2027	Code 4643; DDS letter, September 30, 2022
Assessment finished, on the 60-day limit	Within 60 days of initial intake where delay would risk health or safety, delay development much further, or risk a more restrictive placement.	Friday, May 21, 2027	Code 4643
First plan, if the child is eligible	Within 60 days of the assessment being finished.	Saturday, September 18, 2027, if the assessment took 120 days	Code 4646
Asking to keep current services during an appeal	Postmarked or received by DDS within 30 days of getting the notice, and no later than the day the change takes effect.	Depends on the day the notice arrives	DDS appeals packet
Appealing a decision	Within 60 days of the notice.	Depends on the day the notice arrives	Code 4710.5
A child under 3 (Early Start)	A separate clock of 45 days after referral, with a few exceptions.	Not drawn here	DDS, What is Early Start

What is a Regional Center, and which one is ours?

A Regional Center is the local agency that assesses your child, decides whether your child qualifies, and then arranges services.

The state Department of Developmental Services (DDS) oversees all 21. DDS says the centers “provide assessments, determine eligibility for services, and offer case management services.”

Your center depends on your home address. Each center covers a set area, and you must apply to the center for your area. The areas follow county lines in most of the state. Los Angeles County is divided by health district instead. By our count, seven of the 21 centers in the table serve parts of it.

The table gives DDS’s own words for each area. DDS’s listings page says “within the city of Los Angeles” for Harbor and for North Los Angeles County. DDS’s own directory says “Southern” and “Northern Los Angeles County” for them. We use the directory’s words in those two rows. For Los Angeles County, we would use DDS’s lookup page. It has a map with an address search. We did not test how that map handles a ZIP code, so we would enter the full street address.

Data source: California Department of Developmental Services, regional center listings, read November 11, 2026. The web addresses are the ones DDS links. The Harbor, North Los Angeles County and San Gabriel/Pomona rows use the wording in DDS’s regional center directory, read the same day. The listings page names health districts for Harbor (Bellflower, Harbor, Long Beach and Torrance) and for North Los Angeles County (East Valley, San Fernando and West Valley). It names four cities for San Gabriel/Pomona. The directory says “including” for all three, so these lists may not name every place served.

Once you know which center is yours, the next question is whether it can serve your child.

Who qualifies at age 3 and older?

Your child qualifies with a developmental disability that began before 18, is expected to continue indefinitely, and is substantial (Welfare and Institutions Code 4512). The law names four conditions: intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism. It also covers conditions that are closely related to intellectual disability, or that need similar treatment. DDS’s data calls that group the fifth category.

“Substantial” has a legal meaning. The center looks for significant limits in three or more of seven areas, judged for your child’s age. The areas are self-care, understanding and using language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.

A state regulation adds a second test. The condition must cause a major impairment of thinking or social functioning. The impairment must be serious enough that the child needs services planned and coordinated across professions (17 CCR 54001). Disability Rights California is the advocacy group that publishes a free manual on these rights. It reads that test to mean that a child with autism who scores high on intelligence tests may still qualify. That child would need to show that autism majorly impairs their social skills.

Three kinds of condition do not qualify on their own. They are a condition that is solely physical, solely a psychiatric disorder, or solely a learning disability (17 CCR 54000). DDS’s guide puts it this way: “Having a mental health diagnosis or learning disability is not enough to qualify you for regional center services.” “Solely” means only. A child can have a learning disability or a psychiatric condition and also have a qualifying disability (Disability Rights California). The regulation says “solely physical” covers conditions from birth defects, disease, accident or faulty development. It does not cover a condition tied to a neurological impairment that needs treatment like that for intellectual disability.

A team at the center makes the first decision. The regulation says the team must include at least a program coordinator, a physician and a psychologist. Family income and immigration status do not affect eligibility, says DDS’s guide.

We can’t tell you whether your child would qualify. The center’s team makes the first decision, and you can appeal it. For a young child, the law has an easier test.

What if my child is under 5 and has no diagnosis?

A child under 5 can be “provisionally eligible” without a named diagnosis (Code 4512). The child must have a disability that is not solely physical. The child must also have significant limits in at least two of five areas. The five are self-care, understanding and using language, learning, mobility and self-direction. The law says such a child “is not required to have one of the developmental disabilities listed.”

This rule fits a young child whose delays are clear before any diagnosis is. DDS says it covers a child from birth to 4 years of age. DDS adds that a 3- or 4-year-old does not need to have been in Early Start.

Ask about it by name. A 2022 DDS letter covers a 3- or 4-year-old that the center finds has no developmental disability. The center must then also check provisional eligibility, inside the same 120 days.

Provisional eligibility has an end date. The center must reassess your child at least 90 days before the fifth birthday. To stay eligible at 5, your child must meet the full definition in the section above. If your child does not, services end at 5 unless an appeal was filed under Code 4715.

A child under 3 can use Early Start. Early Start can serve a baby or toddler with a 25 percent delay in one or more of six areas of development (Government Code 95014). The center may also assess a toddler for Regional Center eligibility at the same time, if that fits (Code 4512). Early Start ends at 3.

Some toddlers qualify for Early Start through the center but are not yet found eligible for Regional Center services, even provisionally. For those toddlers, the center must assess for Regional Center eligibility at least 90 days before the third birthday. DDS states that “provisional eligibility is not an extension of Early Start.” Our guide to turning 3 covers that handover.

The next section gives the steps for a child aged 3 or older. A child under 3 follows the Early Start steps in our Early Start guide.

What happens after I call?

For a child aged 3 or older, the center must hold your first intake within 15 working days of your request (Code 4642). You can ask for your own child: call, email or write to the center. The state calls that first contact a referral. Anyone can make it, and that includes you. Each center has its own application process, and staff must let you apply. DDS’s guide says signed consent is needed before intake can begin.

At intake, the center asks you to fill out forms and sign releases so it can get records. It should give you information and advice about its services and about other agencies. The law also requires an information packet at intake, and communication in your preferred language. DDS publishes the packet in 16 languages.

Since January 1, 2025, the center has had to act by the end of those 15 working days. It must decide that your child is eligible, or decide whether it will assess your child. It must tell you which.

If the center assesses your child, it has 120 days from intake to finish (Code 4643). The limit is 60 days where any delay would risk your child’s health or safety or delay development much further. It is also 60 days where your child would be at imminent risk of a more restrictive placement. The assessment needs your signed release. The center may use tests and evaluations that other people have already done. If the disability is well documented, a formal assessment may not be needed.

The center will ask for your health insurance cards. If your family has no insurance, the law says the center can’t use that against your child.

Bring what you have. DDS’s checklist and Disability Rights California’s list include:

• health benefit cards, such as private insurance or Medi-Cal
• evaluation reports and screening results from psychologists, Early Start, Head Start or other health professionals
• your child’s individualized education program (IEP), the school’s special education plan, if there is one
• reports from clinics, schools or other agencies
• baby books or videos that show the early years, if your child had no services as a baby

Once your child is eligible, the center assigns a service coordinator. The first plan is due within 60 days of the assessment being finished (Code 4646). The plan is called an Individual Program Plan, or IPP. Services cannot start until you sign it. DDS’s guide says the services you agree with can start once you sign, and you can keep discussing the others.

The limits are law, but the sources describe the starting days differently. The law counts the 15 working days from your request. Disability Rights California describes intake as the first meeting, and tells families to ask staff if they agree. DDS counts the 120 days from the day the center opens the case for assessment. We would write down every date and ask the center to confirm its dates in writing.

The next question is what this costs.

What does it cost, and what can a center pay for?

The assessment is free, and DDS says most services are free whatever your age or income (DDS).

California used to charge some families, and those fees have ended. The Family Cost Participation Program and the Annual Family Program Fee were repealed on July 1, 2024. Both had been suspended since March 2020. The Parental Fee Program applied to children in 24-hour care outside the home. It was repealed on July 1, 2025. DDS confirmed all three in a notice dated October 28, 2025. The notice says DDS will finish collecting Parental Fee Program fees assessed through June 30, 2025, and will assess no new ones.

Some DDS pages have not caught up. On November 11, 2026, DDS’s services page still described the Parental Fee Program. DDS’s February 2025 guide still said some families “may have to pay a small fee.” We go by the dated notice. If a center mentions a family fee, ask which law it is using.

Free to you does not mean the center pays for everything. The law makes the center look for other payers first (Code 4659). Those payers include Medi-Cal, private insurance and school districts. DDS calls them generic resources. Four rules follow from that:

• If a service would otherwise be available through Medi-Cal or your insurance, and your family qualifies for that coverage but chooses not to pursue it, the center can’t buy the service instead.
• For medical or dental services from age 3, the center needs a denial from Medi-Cal or your insurer first. It must also decide that an appeal of the denial has no merit. The center may pay while you pursue coverage, while an appeal is pending, and until the coverage starts.
• If insurance or Medi-Cal can’t provide a medical service within 60 calendar days, the plan team can have the center pay (Code 4646.4).
• The center may pay your copay, coinsurance or deductible for a service in the plan. One condition is family income at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level (Code 4659.1). A family above that level can still qualify after an extraordinary event, a catastrophic loss or large unreimbursed medical costs, if the service keeps the child at home.

Code 4659 also says its payer rules can’t be used to deny services to an eligible child whose family can’t pay.

Services are chosen child by child in the plan, from your child’s needs and your family’s preferences. For children aged 3 and older, DDS’s guide lists adaptive and life skill training, parent training and counseling, personal care, respite, social recreation and camp, toilet training help and transportation. In-home respite is temporary nonmedical care in your child’s own home (Code 4690.2). The law also lists other respite options, such as foster families and crisis child care facilities (Code 4685). Some services have their own limits in Code 4685:

• For day care, the center may pay only the cost above ordinary day care. It may pay more when your family shows financial need and the extra payment lets your child stay in the family home.
• The center may pay for diapers from age 3. Under 3, it may pay when your family shows financial need and the payment lets your child stay in the family home.
• Camp, social recreation, and nonmedical therapies such as art, dance and music were restored on July 1, 2021. Before that, former Code 4648.5 suspended centers’ authority to buy them. It allowed an exception in extraordinary individual cases.
• For some behavior services, DDS says the main payer is Medi-Cal or private insurance.

There is also a Self-Determination Program. It gives a family a budget and more control over services, and joining is voluntary (Code 4685.8). A provisionally eligible child can’t join it, DDS says.

Spending is not the same for every group. The state must publish the figures each year (Code 4519.5). In fiscal year 2024–25, centers spent $9,632 per person on people aged 3 to 21. The amount was $11,669 for White children and young people, and $8,579 for Hispanic children and young people. It was $9,701 for people whose preferred language is English and $8,935 for people whose preferred language is Spanish (DDS spending report).

Those numbers show differences in spending. The file can’t show the reason, so we don’t read it as proof that any family was treated unfairly. We use ages 3 to 21 because the all-ages figures include adults. In the same file, centers spent $55,401 per person on adults aged 22 and older. What a parent can do is ask the coordinator to name every service that could fit their child.

Money is one worry. Parents also ask who will find out.

Will the school district find out, and what if the center says no?

The center’s records are confidential by law, with listed exceptions. Services start only after you sign the plan, and you can appeal a no.

Who can see my child’s records?

Records from intake onward are confidential under Code 4514. The same law lists the only cases where a center may share records. The list includes professionals working on your child’s intake, assessment or services. It also includes claims for benefits or insurance, and courts. The law requires your consent before the center shares records with a professional it does not employ, or with a program that is not one of its vendors. DDS’s guide is simpler than the law. It says records can’t be shared “without you saying it’s ok unless there is a court order.” We go by the law’s longer list. DDS’s guide also says you can see your child’s file within 3 business days of asking.

Will the school district be told?

We could not confirm a plain yes or no. We found no page that says whether a school district is told a child is a Regional Center client. We looked in the law, at DDS and at Disability Rights California. The rules we read say this much:

• Code 4514’s list of permitted sharing does not name schools or school districts. We searched that one section. Other laws may apply.
• The center can’t get copies of your child’s school records without your written approval, says Disability Rights California.
• The school district is one of the agencies the center looks to first for services. Our IEP guide covers the school’s side, and another guide compares the plans.
• You can invite the coordinator to your child’s school plan meeting, says Disability Rights California.

The rules we read do write contact with the school district into one stage: the months before a toddler in Early Start turns 3. Six months before a toddler in Early Start turns 3, the coordinator notifies the school district of a planning meeting (17 CCR 52112). That applies to a toddler who may be eligible for special education, and the federal rule holds the meeting only with the family’s approval. At least 90 days before the third birthday, Early Start also tells the state and the district that the child may be eligible for special education. DDS says the law requires that notice. It carries the child’s name, birth date, where the child lives, and a parent’s contact details. A child found eligible fewer than 90 days before the birthday follows different steps, and a referral fewer than 45 days before it needs your consent (34 CFR 303.209).

A federal rule lets a state adopt a policy that allows a parent to object to that notice. California’s report to the federal government answers “Do you have a written opt-out policy?” with “NO”. So we found no way for a parent to object to the notice. You do control what comes next. The center sends the fuller referral, with the toddler’s recent plans and evaluations, only with your permission (DDS). When the district contacts you to start its own assessment, you can decline it.

Does immigration status matter?

DDS’s guide says immigration status does not affect eligibility. Your child does have to be a California resident. For an unmarried child under 18, the residence is normally the parents’ home, says Disability Rights California. The same page says residency is hard to prove on a temporary visa. It tells a family in that position to talk to an immigration attorney first. Claiming residency could affect immigration status.

Will this label my child for good?

Eligibility is meant to continue, and that protects services. A person found to have a developmental disability stays eligible unless a full reassessment finds the first decision was “clearly erroneous” (Code 4643.5). Provisional eligibility ends at 5 unless the child meets the full definition, as described above. Eligibility also moves with your child to another part of California.

The assessment needs your signed release, and services start only after you sign the plan. We did not find a sentence in law that says a family may leave at any time. So we won’t state it that way.

What if the center says no?

The law defines the center’s notice as a written one, in plain language and in your preferred language (Code 4701). You then have 60 days to appeal (Code 4710.5). You can ask for an informal meeting, a mediation, a hearing, or any mix of them.

A second deadline matters when your child already gets services. To keep those services the same during the appeal, your request must be postmarked or received by DDS within 30 days of when you got the notice. It must also come no later than the day the change takes effect (DDS appeals packet).

Since March 1, 2023, the appeal request goes to DDS (DDS letter). Center staff must give you the form and help you fill it in if you ask. The hearing must be held within 50 days of DDS receiving your request, unless a continuance is granted (Code 4712). Your first request for a continuance is granted without a reason. The center can also ask for one if it shows good cause. You can also apply again with new information, such as new test results. Appeals for children under 3 run on a separate process.

This guide is information and is no substitute for legal advice. The Office of Clients’ Rights Advocacy gives free legal information and advice to people who use Regional Centers, and it can represent them. It looks at the merits of the case and its own resources when it decides how to help. DDS’s guide says it also helps people who are trying to become eligible. Its number is (800) 390-7032.