We run the OPWDD process for families of children with developmental disabilities, and we provide 24-hour, live-in, and senior care across NYC and Westchester. Intake is bilingual. For special-needs children, a family member can be paid as the caregiver. No fees, ever.
Whether you're navigating OPWDD for your child or caring for an aging parent, we've helped hundreds of New York families just like yours.
End-to-end OPWDD management plus pediatric home care for kids with autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, epilepsy, and more. 4–6 months to approval, not 12–18.
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24-hour, live-in, companion care, dementia support, NHTD & TBI Waiver, Veterans' care. Care that keeps your loved one home, with dignity.
Explore optionsOPWDD funds the services most special-needs families need: Care Management, Community Habilitation, respite, Self-Direction, and the HCBS Medicaid Waiver.
For most families navigating this on their own, getting through the door takes twelve to eighteen months. The process is a part-time job built from paperwork, evaluations, deadlines, and appeals — and most parents do it alone.
Every month you wait is a month of services your child should already be receiving.
You send us six documents from your phone. We do everything else.
Every approval, every document, every deadline lives in one place — your phone. Snap a photo of a record and it uploads in a tap. Message your case worker. Watch your case move through every stage of OPWDD as it happens.
Take a photo of any document: birth certificate, IEP, medical record, ID. The app converts it to PDF and files it where it belongs. No scanner. No fax. No driving to the office.
See exactly what's complete, what's pending review, and what's still missing. The list updates in real time as your case worker files each piece. No more wondering where things stand.
No phone tag. Send a question, get a reply. The whole conversation is logged, time-stamped, and searchable — so nothing falls through the cracks and nothing has to be repeated.
Track your application through every stage: Eligibility, Front Door, CCO, CANS, Waiver, Services. Status updates the moment something changes, plus alerts the day before every deadline.
A year and a half is typical for families navigating OPWDD without help. Longer if the packet comes back incomplete or a denial requires appeal.
Six months is the goal — and with family cooperation, we've closed cases in four. We move every step in parallel and never let a packet come back with corrections.
In New York, most family members and friends can be hired and paid as the Home Health Aide for a child with a qualifying developmental disability. Once approved, your child's care can stay in the hands of the people who love them most.
The one exception: parents and legal guardians cannot be the paid aide for their own child.
Call (929) 333-3955 to startWhether you're navigating a new diagnosis or ready to bring care home, a care coordinator will walk you through your options. Bilingual intake. No fees, ever.
Six steps from your first call to services starting in your home. Here's exactly what happens at each stage: what it requires, how long it takes, and what Amelia handles for you.
OPWDD eligibility requires documented proof of a qualifying developmental disability that originated before age 22 and substantially limits daily functioning. Common qualifying conditions include autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, Down syndrome, and certain neurological conditions.
The Front Door is OPWDD's formal intake session where the family meets with a Developmental Disabilities Regional Office representative, learns about available services, and confirms eligibility. It's required before any services can be authorized.
A Care Coordination Organization (CCO) becomes the central point of contact for all OPWDD services. Enrollment paperwork has to be filed before the 10th of the month to take effect the following month. Miss this deadline and you lose a full month of progress.
The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment is a structured interview the CCO uses to decide the level and type of services a child receives. Under-reporting on the CANS is the single most common reason families end up with fewer hours than they qualify for.
The Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Medicaid Waiver funds in-home care, Community Habilitation, Self-Direction, respite, and most other OPWDD services. Eligibility is based on the child's income alone — not the parents'. Most families assume their income disqualifies their child. It usually doesn't.
Once the Waiver is approved, services start in the home: pediatric home health aide care, Community Habilitation, respite, and — with Self-Direction — a paid family-member caregiver arrangement. Amelia stays on as your home care agency.
Two offices, one team, hundreds of New York families a year.
3007 Ocean Parkway, 1st Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11235
Phone: (929) 333-3955
384 East 149 Street, Suite #400
Bronx, New York 10455
Phone: (929) 333-3955
"Three other parents told me OPWDD takes 'over a year, get ready.' We called Amelia in November. Daniel had services starting in March. The app made the document piece something I could do during nap time."
"I was already taking care of Sofia every day after school while my daughter worked. Amelia explained I could be paid for it. Same work — but now it's how I earn my living."
"We were told for years our income disqualified Arjun. It was wrong — the Waiver is based on his income, not ours. His Community Hab hours started this spring. I wish we'd found them three years sooner."
"We were denied twice trying to do it ourselves. Amelia rebuilt the packet, fixed the CANS reporting, and Misha was approved on the third try. The app showed us exactly where things stood."
"My mother has Alzheimer's. We were ready to move her to memory care until Amelia placed a live-in aide who's been with her for eight months. Mom is still in the home she's lived in for forty years. That's everything."
"After my father's stroke, the hospital wanted to send him to rehab. We brought him home with 24-hour care instead. The caregiver speaks Spanish — my dad and his caregiver actually have conversations."
Whether you're starting from scratch, stuck mid-application, or navigating a denial — call us. No fee for the conversation.
Bilingual caregivers, pediatric and special-needs HHAs, and live-in aides especially needed. Competitive Medicaid-set wages, flexible scheduling, paid training for new hires, and the option to be the paid caregiver for a family member with a developmental disability.