The Michigan Advocacy Toolkit: 7 Free Resources Every Family Should Know Seven free, real, currently active tools and organizations, each doing something specific a Michigan family can put to use...
The Michigan 5-Step Transition Survival Guide Five specific steps, in order, for a Michigan family navigating the years around their autistic child’s eighteenth birthday. No single one of these is...
HCBS Settings Rule Compliance in 2026: What Actually Changes for Families After years of statewide transition plans, provider audits, and compliance deadlines, the federal HCBS Settings Rule is finally reaching...
Organizing locally (support groups, coalitions, mutual aid) When the formal system lags, four or five families who trust each other can build something the state hasn’t. A shared ride, a...
The Waskul settlement and what it means in meetings A 2013 class action settlement already tells your CMH exactly how services are supposed to be decided. Most families have never...
Appeals, grievances, and fair hearings (MDHHS/PIHP denials) A denial letter looks final. It isn’t. Michigan gives you a real, structured path to challenge it, with a clock that starts the...
Transportation barriers (paratransit, NEMT, brokerages, and workarounds) A missed pickup doesn’t just cost a ride. It costs the appointment, the day program slot, the job shift, and sometimes the entire...
Influencing your local CMH board (who’s who and how to testify) Somewhere in your county, twelve people you’ve never met vote on the policies and budgets that shape your family...
MiNavigator and other Michigan navigation supports Somewhere in Michigan’s state government sits a program built specifically to help families like yours find their way through the maze. Most families reach...
Budget cuts and loss of navigation resources When a state cuts funding to the organization that helps you find every other service, the cut doesn’t show up on a services...
