Glossary
Regional Center
Also called: RC, regional centers, regional center
Last reviewed September 30, 2026
The one-sentence answer
A regional center is one of 21 private non-profit organizations under contract with the California Department of Developmental Services to coordinate services for people with developmental disabilities — and yours is determined by where you live.
What this means for you
Your regional center is your entry point to everything, including the Self-Determination Program. They determine eligibility, run the planning process, calculate your individual budget, certify your spending plan, and assign the service coordinator you deal with day to day.
They are not government agencies, which surprises people. They are non-profits under state contract. In practice that means they answer to DDS, and that practice genuinely varies between them — timelines, paperwork, how a rule is interpreted at the margins.
That variation is real and worth knowing about early. Two families in different parts of California, in the same program with similar needs, can have noticeably different experiences of how things are handled. When you read general guidance about Self-Determination — including ours — your regional center's own practice is what actually applies to you. Ask them directly rather than assuming a statewide answer holds.
You do not choose your regional center. It is assigned by catchment area — where you live. This is different from your choice of FMS, which you do choose and can change.
For the detail-oriented
Regional centers exist under WIC 4620, part of the Lanterman Act, and contract with DDS. There are 21, covering the whole state by geography.
Your regional center is not a government office, and this explains more than it sounds like it does. WIC 4620(b) says the Legislature found this work "of such a special and unique nature that it cannot be satisfactorily provided by state agencies," and therefore that "private nonprofit community agencies shall be utilized by the state for the purpose of operating regional centers."
So all 21 are independent nonprofits under contract, not branches of one department. That is why two centers reading the same DDS directive can land in different places, and why "my friend's regional center does it this way" is so often true and so often useless — see when you are told two different things.
The statute also describes what a regional center is meant to be: a "fixed point of contact in the community", with "a strong commitment to the delivery of direct service coordination."
Find yours — county by county, with contact details and what each one publishes about Self-Determination — in the regional center finder.
What changes in Self-Determination
Your regional center does not disappear when you join SDP. What changes is what it does.
| Traditional services | Self-Determination | |
|---|---|---|
| Who chooses providers | The regional center, from vendors it has approved | You do |
| Who pays providers | The regional center directly | Your FMS, from your budget |
| Who sets a worker's pay | The vendor or the rate schedule | You do, within your budget |
| Who holds the money | The regional center | Your individual budget, spent to your plan |
| What the regional center still does | Everything | Eligibility, the IPP, setting the budget, and the appeal route if you disagree |
The part people miss: the regional center still sets your budget and still runs the IPP. Self-Determination moves the spending decisions to you; it does not move the decisions about what you are eligible for or how much you get.
Not every FMS provider works with every regional center. An FMS must be vendored with a regional center to serve its participants, and coverage differs between providers — so "do you work with my regional center?" is a reasonable early question when choosing one.
Still to come: a guide for each regional center, covering how that one in particular handles Self-Determination. This entry will link to them as they are written.