The Missouri Family-to-Family Resource Center hosts quarterly meetings for stakeholders to explore information, training and resources for supporting people with disabilities and their families in Missouri. This group provided the initial ideas and feedback which later evolved into the Charting the LifeCourse Life Experience Guide. This statewide group continues to serve in a key role the on-going development and implementation of Charting the LifeCourse. The Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council, the Division of Developmental Disabilities, and UMKC-Institute for Human Development are key funders and partners of the MoF2F.

National Agenda on Family Support for Families of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities a gathering of national leaders hosted at the Johnson Foundation’s Wingspread Conference Centerthat proposed a new structure for implementing policies and practices for supporting families with members with intellectual and developmental disabilities, based on the current reality, needs and expectations of people with disabilities. A key outcome was defining supports to families in policy and practice to support families, with all their complexity and diversity, in ways that maximize their capacity, strengths, and unique abilities so they can best support, nurture, and facilitate the achievement of self-determination, interdependence, productivity, integration, and inclusion in all facets of community life for their family members. The final report co-authored by Dr. Michelle C. Reynolds, continues to serve as the foundation of the Charting the LifeCourse framework.

The National Agenda on Family Support for Families of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Wingspread Report was presented at the 2011 Mid-Year NASDDDS Conference, May 2011. The theme of this conference was Building a Sustainable Service System. This meeting focused on meeting present needs without compromising the ability to meet future needs as a factor as state leaders navigate challenges for the population they serve with an emphasis on personal empowerment, futures planning, and strengthened support networks.

The Missouri Department of Mental Health Division of Developmental Disabilities contracted with UMKC-IHD to enhance statewide policy, procedurals and practices for persons with disabilities and their families within the state regional office system. This partnership continues to serve as the catalyst for many of the CtLC Strategic Thinking efforts and tools that are being used around the country.

In response to the National Agenda on Family Support, the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) funded the National Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Individuals with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities. This project is a partnership of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) with the University of Missouri Kansas City-Institute on Human Development (UMKC-IHD) and Human Services Research Institute (HSRI). Starting in October 2012, five states were selected to participate through a competitive application process: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Washington. Additionally, Missouri served as a demonstration state, due to its role in developing the Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) framework and the initial implementation within the state developmental disability agency.

The goal of the National Community of Practice on Supporting Families is to build capacity across and within States to create policies, practices, and systems to better assist and support families that include a member with I/DD across the lifespan. Outcomes include state and national consensus on a national framework and agenda, improved supports to families through enhanced national and state policies, practices, and sustainable systems, and supporting families and systems through enhanced capacity to replicate and sustain exemplary practices. In its first round, the National Community of Practice on Supporting families developed the CoP Supporting Families Guiding Principles and UMKC developed the icons, visuals, and tools, and resources to understand the principles.

• Fosters self-determination and quality of life of persons with I/DD and their families
• Focuses on the strengths, capacity and diversity of the person within the context of their family
• Enhances life experiences that promote a trajectory towards the quality of life outcomes
• Helps persons with I/DD and their families ENVISION and PLAN FOR POSSIBILITIES and dreams before the crisis, life-transitions, and future
• Supports the informational, emotional and day-to-day support needs of all family members
• Utilizes INTEGRATED supports within and outside of formal disability-specific services
• Can help to CHANGE EXPECTATIONS of role and responsibility of service system,
• Potential to LESSEN THE FREQUENCY AND LONG-TERM NATURE of crisis services
• Builds on the strengths and contributions of persons with I/DD, their families, and the community
• All level of change is driven by the person with I/DD and/or their family in partnership with others

In 2013, the Missouri LifeCourse Tools & Practice Workgroup was formed to bring together the key organizations in Missouri that were piloting the original LifeCourse concepts and tools within the local county boards that provide services to people with developmental disabilities. This workgroup was part of a partnership between UMKC and the Missouri Division of Developmental Disability to enhance the role of families within state disability services. Members of this workgroup represented Missouri in the National Community of Practice on Supporting Families, as the mentor state to that initiative. The Missouri LifeCourse in Action workgroup continues to meet today, and serve as a model for state LifeCourse in Action groups in other states. The workgroup now serves as a learning collaborative for on-going sharing and learning amongst key implementors on how the framework and tools are being integrated into cultural, procedural, policy, and practice changes within local organizations.

Missouri was one of eight states awarded a Partnerships in Employment Systems Change grant by Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities under the Projects of National Significance to promote cross-systems and cross-agency collaboration to improve integrated, competitive employment outcomes for youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Integrated, competitive employment is when “individuals with disabilities earn wages consistent with wages paid workers without disabilities in the community performing the same or similar work.

Missouri’s project, Show-Me-Careers, collaborated with the Missouri Family-to-Family Resource Center to develop resources for engaging families in employment outcomes for their family member with a disability. Utilizing the CtLC framework and tools, the CtLC Daily Life and Employment Packet was developed and piloted in two communities to assist families with transition planning for individuals with disabilities leaving high school.

The National Community of Practice for Supporting Families met for its second annual meeting in May of 2014, in Kansas City. This event brought together the national partnership council, five states engaged in the CoP, Missouri as the model state, and project leadership from UMKC-IHD and NASDDDS. This meeting opened with an introduction of Creating Blue Space with Hanns Meissner to guide states in establishing their status, successes, and barriers. Additionally, states reviewed their spaces and the space of the CoP, innovations, and applications. During this meeting participants further refined the beliefs and principles of the CoP through the lens of Charting the LifeCourse and began the Guide to Applying the CtLC Framework to Policies and Practices, by identifying systems drivers.

Progressive Community Services, in St. Joseph Missouri, piloted Charting the LifeCourse tools in partnership with staff at UMKC Institute for Human Development on the Individual Advocacy and Family Support Team. The goal of the pilot project is to validate the LifeCourse Tools across diagnosis, age groups, services received, and living situation. Further, the pilot project aimed to identify the necessary elements to scale-up tools for agency-wide usage.

The pilot included training processes for front line workers to increase competence and confidence with using the tools as well as grounding in the framework. Participating service coordinators served individuals with I/DD across the lifespan including children under 18 years of age up through adults 80 years of age across settings including those living with families, individuals receiving residential supports, and those living on their own. Additionally, individuals supported may also be self-directing or receiving only case management supports.

In August 2015, a National Goals in Research, Policy, and Practice working meeting was held in Washington, DC to summarize the current state of knowledge and identify a platform of national goals, organized by 10 focus areas, in research, practice, and policy in intellectual and developmental disabilities. Dr. Michelle Reynolds and other key leadership from UMKC-IHD led the Family Focus Area and incorporated the Charting the LifeCourse framework and thinking into the products that were developed.

For more information, click here to read the Issue Brief for the Inclusion (December 2015, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 260-266 article in the AIDD Journal.

Abstract: As a core unit of our society, the family provides support for all its members. Due to the nature of their disabilities, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often receive emotional, physical, and material support from their families across the life course. During the National Goals 2015 Conference, three goals were identified that will lead to a better understanding of families and maximize their capacity, strengths, and unique abilities to support, nurture, and facilitate opportunities for family members who have a disability. The three goals are to (1) develop a better understanding of the complex family structures in the United States and the best practices for supporting them; (2) extend our knowledge on how families are or might be supported by their natural communities, outside the purview of IDD systems; and (3) synthesize support practices, implementation strategies, and outcomes for supporting families. This article describes these three goals related to supporting families across the life course and provides a rationale, areas of research to address the goals, and implications for policy and practice for each goal.

The National Community of Practice for Supporting Families met for its third annual meeting in May of 2015, in Kansas City. This event brought together the national partnership council, five states engaged in the CoP, Missouri as the model state, and project leadership from UMKC-IHD and NASDDDS. Additionally leaders from South Dakota attended this meeting as they were interested in joining the Community of Practice. At this meeting the CoP states presented on the current realities in their states, their core activities, lessons learned, and visions for the coming year. The evaluation team presented on the state surveys next steps for the CoP were identified as CoP members partnered to map strategies for supporting families across the LifeCourse.

In partnership with ARCH National Respite the UMKC-IHD team developed Charting the LifeCourse respite materials which included a respite guide book, portfolio, and other tools designed to help family caregivers supporting family members of any age or disability create a plan to access respite services within and outside the formal service system.

Developed in partnership with the Developmental Disabilities Health Initiative, a collaboration between the UMKC IHD and EITAS Jackson County Developmental Disability Services, the Healthy Living portfolio was adapted from the original My LifeCourse Portfolio by Missouri Family to Family to help Community Health Workers support individuals with I/DD to accomplish their goals for a healthy life. In addition to the Healthy Living Portfolio, two additional products developed as a result of this collaboration were the Healthy Living Portfolio includes the Healthy Living Action Plan and Goal Attainment Scaling Form.

In June of 2016, the National Community of Practice on Supporting Families convened for their second annual meeting in conjunction with the NASDDDS Directors Forum and Mid-Year Conference, Reframing Policies and Practices to Support Families. This event was held in Kansas City, at The Westin Crown Center. States focused on the importance of supporting families as they are adapting to meet federal home and community-based service (HCBS) requirements and redesigning their systems. Building on the work from the 2011 National Agenda on Family Support, which defined families as the core unit in our society serving as a source of support for all its members, and the continued growth and development of the Charting the LifeCourse framework which attendees continued responding to the unique role of families for people with I/DD and the key roles they play in identifying and securing opportunities to participate meaningfully in their communities and accessing self-determined lives.

NASDDDS and UMKC-IHD created a membership option for eleven new states to join the original CoP. (Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota). These eleven states joined the original states to continue building capacity to create policies, practices, and systems to better assist and support families that include a member with I/DD across the lifespan with the overall goal of supporting families with all of their complexity and diversity to maximize their capacity, strengths, and unique abilities to best support, nurture, love, and facilitate opportunities for the achievement of self-determination, interdependence, productivity, integration, and inclusion in all facets of community life.

The District of Columbia was awarded two national initiatives from the Administration on Community Living (ACL), the Partnerships for Integrated Employment, and the Aging and Disability Resource Center No Wrong Door grants. Through these initiatives staff focused on enhancing access to disability services and supports and conducted a person-centered systems-level analysis to understand current person-centered practices across five D.C. No Wrong Door partner agencies. This process highlighted the need for a parallel analysis focusing on family/caregiver engagement and family roles at all levels (policy, practices, and structures) across agencies. Washington, D.C. No Wrong Door project team asked the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) and University of Missouri Kansas City Institute for Human Development (UMKC-IHD) UCEDD to conduct a family-centered analysis of No Wrong Door agencies. This analysis was a three-prong analysis examining activities that engage and support families within each No Wrong Door agency through key informant interviews, paper level analysis, and No Wrong Door Staff discussions. Included in this approach was a web analysis. As part of these initiatives, staff on these grants participated in the first-ever Ambassador Series—a series that continues to serve as the LifeCourse foundational training.

Finally, these initiatives integrated the LifeCourse framework into the development and design of resources, including infographics, website, handouts, etc. integrating No Wrong Door and Charting the LifeCourse. And refinement of the LifeCourse Employment Life Domain Guide and tools and developed planning tools specifically for families, which are now are called Family Perspective Tools. The tools and new procedures for Intake Staff and Employment Specialists continue to be used today.

In January of 2017 representatives from the Rainbow Center in Singapore met with the UMKC-IHD team to learn more about implementation of Charting the LifeCourse and spend time in Kansas City observing classrooms and inclusive activities. They have been charged with putting together a transition toolkit for families of individuals with disabilities in Singapore. The Singapore team hopes to implement the LifeCourse Framework at home in their organization and culture and to develop a transition toolkit for youth with developmental disabilities in Singapore.

The National Community of Practice for Supporting Families met for its annual meeting in May of 2017, in Kansas City. This event brought together the national partnership council, the 12 states engaged in the CoP, and project leadership from UMKC-IHD and NASDDDS. At this meeting attendees reflected on accomplishments and focused on refining the innovation areas, continued integrating the work of supporting families and Charting the LifeCourse principles, and moving to actions.

The Charting the LifeCourse Showcase was hosted in conjunction with the Supporting Families CoP Annual Meeting on May 17-18, 2017, in Kansas City, Missouri, by the UMKC Institute for Human Development in partnership with the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disability Services. This event hosted nearly 250 registered attendees. Sessions focused on a variety of topics across life domains, such as transition to adulthood and employment. They also provided examples of using CtLC to connect initiatives and systems, personal journeys using the framework and tools, organization implementation of the CtLC framework, CtLC 101 sessions, using CtLC for self-advocacy and to self-direct supports, using CtLC for systems change and across sectors, using CtLC for person-centered planning and ISP development, supported decision making, as well as exploring the good life. Presenters also discussed the policy impact, impact of CtLC across cultures, the importance of focusing on the all, and integrating thinking. Session presenters represented 14 states, family members, support providers, and state systems. The opening session represented national partners including SABE and AIDD. The showcase also featured an expo with poster sessions highlighting different ways CtLC is being applied across the United States through the National Community of Practice for Supporting families.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) observed not only the success of the CoP participants, but the growth of the CoP to include an additional ten states not affiliated with the initial grant. In 2017, ACL awarded an evaluation contract to New Editions Consulting and its partner, The Lewin Group, to evaluate the CoP. This evaluation included the 16 states participating in the CoP between 2012 and 2018, for at least two years. States were grouped based on time in the national CoP and prior experience with the CtLC framework. In their evaluation, the team observed immediate value in the use of the CoP platform and their ability to leverage it to achieve systems change. Additionally, the CtLC framework and resources evolved throughout the course of the period and continue growing. States used the framework at various stages in its development and implementation.

Designed to improve the capacity of self-advocates (SA), families, disability staff, and health professionals to implement Supported Decision Making (SDM) in healthcare for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), the Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) Health Care Preferences and Supported Decision Making for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities project sought to enhance the partnership between health care professionals, adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), family members, and disability providers that supports informed choice and SDM practices. Utilizing a multi-level approach that enhanced knowledge and skills this initiative provided training and coaching on SDM and facilitated effective communication with each target group across the lifespan. A CtLC Healthcare Training and Coaching Toolkit was developed and disseminated through the project.

This two-phase project was implemented by UMKC-IHD in partnership with Progressive Community Services (PCS), the DD Services Board for Buchanan County. Phase 1 of the project consisted of 2-hour training workshops for each of the four target groups, while Phase 2 consisted of 12-hours of coaching per target group to support implementation. This project equipped health professionals to improve patient-centered practices through training that enhances knowledge and skills for SDM for persons with IDD that can be generalized to other diverse and underserved groups. Understanding SDM for persons with IDD within the context of informed consent, personal rights, and community inclusion decreases environmental bias and increases anticipatory guidance. Coaching sessions that use tools built around the four tenets of informed consent increased confidence with communication strategies designed to elicit a person’s preferences

The purpose of the Charting the LifeCourse Family Leadership Collaborative is to introduce both transformational thinkings using the framework and practical skills on presenting and using the CtLC tools to family leaders so they can provide training and coaching to self-advocates, families, and professionals in Maryland. The ultimate goal is to enhance knowledge, skills, and confidence of self-advocates, families, and professionals in Maryland when considering disability services and supports, as well as to encourage:

• Self-Discovery: By learning how to explore about ones’ self and different life domains, to begin identifying goals, vision and life experiences
• Self-Advocacy: By practicing how to prepare ones’ own thoughts and documents to be used for Specific Formal Planning Meetings
• Self-Directing: By learning how to utilize the Charting the LifeCourse Tools and Framework to organize supports and/or educate or coordinate others providing supports
• Self-Determination: By learning how to utilize the Charting the LifeCourse Tools and Framework to learn the steps for problem-solving to enhance personal skill sets
• Solution Finding: By learning how to utilize the Charting the LifeCourse Tools and Framework to solve a specific problem or resolve a conflict

The Connecticut DD Council and DDS partnered to host the first CtLC Educational Ambassador series with coaching. This series focused on the implementation of the CtLC framework and principles in the educational system throughout the state. The Ambassador series included teachers, administrators, and representatives from the Department of Education working together to learn about the principles of CtLC and identify how to integrate this thinking and practices into the classroom, curriculum planning, and statewide policy and procedure.

The Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) team at the Institute for Human Development at the University of Missouri Kansas City entered into a contract with the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities (KCDD) to provide training and technical assistance to entities within the state of Kansas that interact with persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their families. Kansas continues to be a Community of Practice on Supporting Families state and this project built on the initial foundation of this structure and expands it to enhance the efforts of the CoP and CtLC across Kansas.

Using a regional approach, Kansas organized efforts into three focus areas, education, self-advocates and families, and long-term services and supports. A fourth focus was added to address CtLC use, tools, and application. Through this partnership regional events were hosted and Kansans engaged in targeted ambassador series around focus areas. Participants experienced success in integrating CtLC in their efforts primarily due to their positions within their organizations

The National Community of Practice for Supporting Families met for its annual meeting in April 2018, in Kansas City. CoP states engaged in a series of panel discussions to explore and enhance the three primary focus areas in which they receive technical assistance and support from the National Project Team. These included state team structure and organization, transformational change through building capacity in and integrating the principles of the Charting the LifeCourse framework throughout the state, and leveraging the shared learning of the Innovations workgroups to focus on priority initiatives. State teams engaged in strategic visioning and brainstorming to begin planning for the third year of the Community of Practice, both for their state and for the National Community of Practice as a whole.

The Charting the LifeCourse framework and tools have grown through the exchange of ideas and experiences from self-advocates, families, and professionals around the country. The Second Annual LifeCourse Showcase was held in Kansas City in conjunction with the National Community of Practice on Supporting Families annual meeting. This event hosted nearly 300 attendees representing self-advocates, families, provider organizations, and state systems change agents to enhance personal capacity and the growing body of knowledge to move CtLC principles forward. This was an opportunity for participants to enhance learning, join the conversation, and network with community of practice representatives. It provided a platform for the exchange of ideas in efforts to support the good life for ALL.

ACL awarded funding to help states measure and quantify their No Wrong Door (NWD) systems. UMKC-IHD supported the development of resources and practices through the Charting the LifeCourse framework that was person-centered and supported long-term services and supports (LTSS) across the lifespan and across systems. The No Wrong Door (NWD) System represents a collaborative effort of the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), to support state efforts to streamline access to services in the community for all populations and demonstrate the value of home and community-based services (HCBS). These efforts promote the collaboration of local service organizations making service delivery more efficient and person-centered with the focus and support of state governance, public outreach, streamlined eligibility, and person-centered counseling.

While there is access to HCBS services in all states and territories a need for coordinated systems continues growing and the populations needing LTSS are faced with multiple eligibilities and enrollment systems which are duplicative, inefficient, and difficult to navigate. Additionally, demand for support continues to grow exponentially as individuals, families, and caregivers depend on public programs and resources become scarce.

ICI Boston partners with UMKC-IHD to host a research study using Facebook Group of Parents of Transition Age Students to learn about and use the Charting the LifeCourse framework and tools to plan for the transition from high school.

The Missouri Living Well project is guided by the belief that integrated supports lead to an increased quality of life, which will decrease incidences of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Funded by ACL, Missouri Living Well is implementing Charting the LifeCourse along with compatible models and methodologies for quality improvement to develop a replicable model for system transformation to drive systems change and improve quality of life using an integrated feedback loop including stakeholders from all domains of the disability system.

Pilot county collaboratives involved in the Missouri Living Well project will also complete the Charting the LifeCourse Ambassador Series for Systems Transformation, giving them a universal language and lens to examine issues at a county and state level as they engage in infrastructural and community modifications, such as practices, policies, and procedures for quality assurance/enhancement, capacity building (training), financing, and service innovations. There are a myriad of strategies for addressing these focus areas, and all solutions must be mindful of a comprehensive approach to full system transformation (such as considering all levels of impact, all quality of life domains, all system interactions with individuals and families, and integrated supports.

The National Community of Practice for Supporting Families met for its annual meeting in April 2019, in Kansas City. Preliminary results from the CoP Evaluation were presented. CoP states focused on human and systems needs, celebrated successes, and engaged in planning as states and full CoP.

The Third Annual LifeCourse Showcase was hosted in conjunction with the National Community of Practice on Supporting Families in Kansas City. This event hosted nearly 400 attendees engaged in integrating the CtLC framework and principles at all levels.

The third phase of the National Community of Practice on Supporting Families began in July of 2019. In this phase, more than 17 states have been active members of this network. This phase of expansion offered different levels of engagement, including Development for new states (Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Virginia), Integration for states (Alabama, Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, and South Dakota) involved in the CoP for three years with full access to the CoP, and Sustainability for existing states (Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania) who have engaged with the CoP for three years focused on identifying and leveraging opportunities. These levels support the original goal of the project to identify and scale-up policy and practice change that supports families. As the CoP has both expanded and evolved, the goal of the network is to enhance person-centered policy and practice change that recognizes and supports the person within the context of their family.

Indiana DD Agency contracts to develop waivers using the CtLC framework to enhance and develop new HCBS waivers for persons with developmental disabilities. Through this partnership UMKC-IHD engaged with project partners to guide the project team in aligning overall redesign efforts and systems change with Charting the LifeCourse principles. CtLC formed the foundation of the guiding values for a comprehensive waiver re-design that stems from Indiana’s strong desire to make transformative positive change for individuals with IDD and their families. Indiana shares the values and principles of the LifeCourse Framework and is committed to ensuring that all of its programs, services, and initiatives align with these sets of principles. Dr. Sheli Reynolds traveled to Indiana in September 2019, to discuss the LifeCourse and its efficacy for driving Waiver Re-Design to a legislatively mandated Task Force for Assessment of Services and Supports for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Indiana and its partners then utilized the CtLC Framework and Principles to develop an Initial Concept Paper to be shared across the State and to elicit public comment on the Waiver Re-Design.

Oregon DD and HMA contracted with UMKC-IHD to assist with their strategic thinking around ISP redesign. UMKC-IHD Charting the LifeCourse Nexus provides subject matter expertise in the development and redesign of the Oregon ISP ISP process and related materials for individuals receiving I/DD services. UMKC-IHD supported the development of a joint project plan. They are assisting with stakeholder interviews, reviewing communications and outreach plans, and developing and piloting evaluation tools as well as an ISP process flow, handbook, manual, and form.

The LifeCourse Nexus is working with multiple states as subject matter experts on ACL NCAPPS in partnership with HSRI. Participating states (Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Utah) developed their state plans around which the LifeCourse Nexus provides targeted technical assistance. Additionally, the LifeCourse Nexus assists HSRI in developing TA plans, convening meetings, reviewing policy, regulations, and tools, as well as developing reports and recommendations.

Indiana Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services (DDRS) is contracting with the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), Institute for Human Development for consultation, training, and technical assistance for this project. UMKC will work with DDRS to engage a wide array of stakeholders to both grow their knowledge of and strategically plan for implementation of person-centered practices, policies, and procedures. The contractor will provide support to DDRS to engage and empower self-advocates, families, and other key stakeholders to build the capacity of innovative community supports while renovating and enhancing the current system for monitoring safety, health, and well-being of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), thus promoting independence, community integration, and access to quality non-paid and paid community supports and services.

The LifeCourse Nexus is working with Indiana on their ACL Living Well project by providing technical assistance, consultation, and training and assisting with:

• Development and alignment of quality oversight measures that incorporate and measure the effective application of Charting the LifeCourse (“CtLC” or “LifeCourse”) principles;

• Capacity building in the principles of CtLC that will promote strategic development, piloting, and scaling of a quality oversight process and related instrument(s);

• Professional development for Client’s personnel and other collaborative team members regarding the philosophy of the CtLC framework and related practices for person-centered quality oversight; and

• Education and training in the form of Regional Workshops.

The National Community of Practice for Supporting Families met for its annual meeting virtually over the course of three meetings in May and June 2020. Attendees engaged in robust discussion about states leveraging strategies to continue providing person-and family-centered supports in the current COVID-19 reality and moving forward. In the second session, states collaborated around establishing, nurturing, and maximizing partnerships to expand the impact and ensure the sustainability of innovations. The third session focused on exploring transformative efforts around innovations for enhancing person-centered planning, using technology for family engagement, communication, trauma-informed supports aligned with CtLC, and the role of ambassadors in connecting and contributing to the CoP vision for system change.