Tool
Who can be paid?
Self-Determination lets a participant hire almost anyone. The exception is a "legally responsible person," who cannot be paid to provide services. Regional centers have applied that rule inconsistently. Here is what the Department of Developmental Services actually says, applied to your situation.
The rule, in DDS's words
"A legally responsible person is generally defined to be the parents (natural or adoptive) of minor children and a participant's spouse. In some cases, a guardian of a minor child, such as another relative, will be a legally responsible caretaker if a court has determined they must provide care to the minor child."
And from the July 2024 goods and services guidance, Enclosure A: "A legally responsible person cannot be paid to provide services."
DDS's FAQ answers two of the questions families ask most. A parent who is the conservator of an adult child may be paid for qualified services. A parent holding a durable power of attorney for an adult child may be paid. Being a conservator does not make a parent "legally responsible" in this sense.
What this tool does not decide
Whether the person is qualified for the service. Every provider must be an adult and qualified to do the work, and some services require a license. Those are separate questions from this one.
Anyone giving direct personal care needs a criminal background clearance before starting, and being a relative does not change that. DDS says the requirement applies "including family members who provide direct personal care services." There is exactly one exemption: "this does not include family members who live in the same home as the participant and are paid to provide direct personal care services." So a sibling across town needs a clearance; a sibling under the same roof does not. One clearance covers a provider serving several participants.
Check with your FMS before anyone starts, not after. Part of their job is making sure money is spent the way your approved spending plan says and within the DDS rules, so they confirm that whoever is providing a service is eligible to before it begins. That check protects your budget: work already done that turns out not to be payable is the expensive version of this. DDS writes the rules and your regional center decides — your FMS works the question through with you and takes it there when it needs deciding. An FMS may apply a stricter standard than DDS, never a looser one, so yours may ask for a check in a case DDS exempts.
Relationships DDS has not addressed in writing: stepparents, registered domestic partners, and foster parents. If that is your situation, ask your regional center to answer in writing and to cite the rule it is applying.
Your regional center has the final say on your spending plan. If it tells you something different from what DDS has published, ask it to show you where that rule is written. The January 2025 Ombudsperson report notes that centers and FMS providers disagreed about conservators until DDS updated its FAQ; the published answer is the one to hold them to.