Understanding Regional Centers

What They Are, What They Help With, and How to Get Started

If you're raising or supporting a child with a developmental disability in California, you'll hear "Regional Center" mentioned constantly — by your child's school, by other parents, by pediatricians. But what a Regional Center actually is, and how to access one, isn't always explained clearly. This guide walks through it.

What Is a Regional Center?

Regional centers are nonprofit private corporations that contract with the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) to provide or coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. There are 21 regional centers across California, each serving a specific geographic area, so families work with a local office rather than a single statewide agency.

Think of a Regional Center as the local hub that connects a family to the services their child (or adult child) is eligible for — it doesn't provide every service directly, but it assesses eligibility, develops a plan, and coordinates or funds the services that plan calls for.

Who Is Eligible?

To qualify for Regional Center services, a person must have a disability that:

Began before their 18th birthday
Is expected to continue indefinitely
Presents a substantial disability, as defined in Section 4512 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code

Eligibility is established through a diagnosis and assessment performed by the Regional Center itself — there's no cost to families for this evaluation.

Infants and toddlers (age 0 to 36 months) who are at risk of a developmental disability or already show a developmental delay may also qualify, under separate criteria (Section 95014 of the California Government Code) through the Early Start program. Families expecting a child who may be at risk can also access genetic counseling and other prevention services through Regional Center.

What Can a Regional Center Actually Help With?

Once eligibility is established, a case manager (often called a service coordinator) is assigned to the family. That person's job is to help build a plan — called an Individual Program Plan (IPP) — and then help access, coordinate, and monitor whatever services that plan calls for.

Regional centers can provide or coordinate:

Assessment and diagnosis
Counseling
Lifelong individualized planning and service coordination
Purchase of services included in the Individual Program Plan
Resource development and referrals
Advocacy for legal, civil, and service rights
Early intervention for at-risk infants and their families
Genetic counseling
Family support services
Planning, placement, and monitoring for 24-hour out-of-home care
Training and educational opportunities for individuals and families
Community education about developmental disabilities

Cost: Most services and supports are free, regardless of age or income. The exceptions are 24-hour out-of-home placements for children under 18, where parents share cost based on ability to pay (Parental Fee Program), and select other services with a possible co-payment (Family Cost Participation Program).

How to Access a Regional Center

Step 1: Find your local Regional Center. Which office you contact depends on where you live, not where your child attends school. In this service area:

Regional Center of Orange County (RCOC) — Orange County districts
Harbor Regional Center (HRC) — Bellflower, Harbor, Long Beach, and Torrance districts
North Los Angeles County Regional Center (NLACRC) — East Valley, San Fernando, and West Valley districts
Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center (ELARC) — Alhambra and Whittier districts
South Central Los Angeles Regional Center (SCLARC) — Compton, San Antonio, South, Southeast, and Southwest districts
San Gabriel/Pomona Regional Center (SGPRC) — El Monte, Monrovia, Pomona, and Glendora districts

Not sure which one covers your address? Use the statewide Regional Center lookup by county or the full Regional Center directory.

Statewide Regional Center Lookup By County

Full Regional Center Directory

Step 2: Request an intake appointment. Contact the Regional Center directly (by phone or through their website) and ask about starting the intake process. You can self-refer as a parent or guardian — you don't need a referral from a doctor or school, though having existing evaluations, IEPs, or medical records on hand speeds things up.

Step 3: Complete the assessment. The Regional Center will schedule an evaluation to determine eligibility. This is done at no cost to the family.

Step 4: Build the Individual Program Plan (IPP) with your service coordinator. If found eligible, you'll be assigned a case manager who works with you to identify needs and build a plan for services — similar in spirit to how an IEP team builds a plan at school, but covering the broader range of supports a Regional Center can offer.

A Note for Families Approaching Adulthood

If your student is nearing 18, it's worth confirming Regional Center eligibility is already established well before that birthday — re-assessment as an adult can be more restrictive than the criteria used for children, and adult service planning (housing, employment supports, day programs) typically runs through the same Regional Center relationship. If your family hasn't connected with a Regional Center yet and your student is already in their teens, don't wait for the transition-planning conversation at school to bring it up — start the intake process directly.

Regional Center of Orange County (RCOC) – Orange County Districts

Harbor Regional Center (HRC) – Bellflower, Harbor, Long Beach, and Torrance Districts

North Los Angeles County Regional Center (NLACRC)– East Valley, San Fernando, and West Valley Districts

Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center (ELARC) – Alhambra and Whittier Districts

South Central Los Angeles Regional Center (SCLARC) – Compton, San Antonio, South, Southeast, and Southwest

San Gabriel/Pomona Regional Center (SGPRC) –

El Monte, Monrovia, Pomona, and Glendora Districts