Glossary
DDS (Department of Developmental Services)
Also called: DDS, Department of Developmental Services, the Department
Last reviewed September 30, 2026
The one-sentence answer
The Department of Developmental Services is the California state agency that oversees services for people with developmental disabilities — it contracts with the 21 regional centers, issues the directives that set the rules, and administers the Self-Determination Program statewide.
What this means for you
DDS sets the rules; your regional center applies them. That division explains a lot about who to talk to. A question about what the program allows is usually a DDS-level question. A question about your services, your budget, your plan is a regional center question — and going to DDS with it will generally send you back.
DDS does not approve your individual budget or your spending plan. It says so directly. In the directive requiring regional centers to report large budget changes, DDS states that the reporting "does not give the Department a role in the approval of individual budgets or spending plans." Your budget is certified by your regional center, not by the state. If someone tells you DDS is holding up your plan, that is worth questioning.
What DDS does do that touches you directly:
- Publishes the directives that are the operative rules
- Publishes each FMS provider's approved employer burden rate, which is why you can look up a provider's number instead of taking their word for it
- Maintains the FMS contact list and program guidance including Enclosure B
- Runs the background check clearance process through its Office of Protective Services
- Operates an SDP mailbox,
SDP@dds.ca.gov, referenced throughout its own directives
For the detail-oriented
DDS operates under the Lanterman Act and contracts with the regional centers, which are private non-profits rather than state offices.
Useful addresses DDS names in its own documents: SDP@dds.ca.gov for Self-Determination
questions, EVV@dds.ca.gov for electronic visit verification,
and ratesquestions@dds.ca.gov for rate matters. These are published in DDS directives and
are often a faster route than going through a regional center for a question about the rule
itself.
Who else is in this picture, and who is not DDS
Three names come up constantly and only one of them is DDS. Confusing them wastes time, because they do different things and only one of them decides anything about your services.
The Office of the Developmental Services Ombudsperson sits inside DDS but is described by DDS as an independent office within it. It explains rights, gives neutral information, and helps work through problems — only when someone asks it to. It does not decide your case and it is not where an appeal goes.
The State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) is a separate body, not part of DDS. For Self-Determination it matters for one very practical reason: since 1 April 2026, SCDD is the only approved provider of the SDP orientation you must take before joining. So the orientation is booked through SCDD, while the programme itself is administered by DDS through your regional center.
Your regional center is the one you will actually deal with, and it is neither of the above — it is a private nonprofit under contract with DDS.
Where an appeal goes. Since 1 March 2023, appeals go to DDS directly, not to the regional center and not to the Ombudsperson. See appeal.
Still to come: the statewide advisory structure — the Statewide Self-Determination Advisory Committee and the local volunteer advisory committees (LVACs) funded through June 2030 by SB 163 — which this entry names but does not yet explain.