Programs and services
Family Support is where most people meet Community Autism Resources (CAR). It's for autistic children, teens and young adults across the 81 cities and towns of southeastern Massachusetts, and for the people raising them.
Call, and a person answers, or calls you back. Tell us what's going on. We've heard most of these questions before, and we know where to start.
Everyone on the Family Support team is the parent of an autistic child, teen or adult. You won't have to explain what that's like.
Family Support is for the whole family, not only your child.
You don't have to wait for a problem to get in touch.
Whoever is doing the raising.
Parents, caregivers, grandparents. The people around a family call us too: school teams, other agencies, and caseworkers from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) getting a family connected.
Family Support costs you nothing.
The Department of Developmental Services (DDS) funds Family Support. No fees, no billing, nothing run through your insurance, and no point at which using more of it starts to cost you.
What we can't do.
Family Support can't attend Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Individual Support Plan (ISP) meetings or advocate on a family's behalf, and we don't provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). What we can do is explain what exists in this region, who to ask, and what to do when the answer is no, and share provider lists built from what other families have told us worked.
DDS pays for most of what Family Support does, and that funding comes with three conditions. Nothing else is asked of you: no service plan, no case number, no referral.
Anyone can call with a question, whether or not the three apply to you.
Who the funding covers:
Age
Birth to 22. There's no lower end, so it's never too early to call.
Where you live
We cover southeastern Massachusetts, from the tip of the Cape up to Quincy, and west to Attleboro. If you're outside that area, call anyway and we'll connect you with the autism support center that covers yours. You can check your town on our service area map.
A diagnosis
Your child needs an autism diagnosis for the parts DDS funds. The groups, the webinars and the phone line are open either way.
Where the funding stops.
DDS pays for Family Support up to age 22. After that, we can connect you with your local family support project, home to the Autism Navigators. We've never turned a family away for aging past a number, and we're not going to start.
What Family Support does
Places you can take your child
Family events, roughly monthly, and most are free. A movie day. A fall hayride. Farm visits, trampoline parks, evening tours of the zoo. They're built for the way your child actually is: nobody is asked to sit still and nobody is asked to leave. For some families this is the first outing in a long time that didn't end early.
Every event is announced in the Monday Morning Message, CAR's weekly email, and the popular ones fill up.
Programs your child does with other kids
Small groups, four to six weeks at a time, quarterly, free. Martial arts, dance, yoga, social skills, sensory. Plus one-offs through the year: art, cooking, video game tournaments. Small enough that a child who doesn't do well in a crowd can still be in the room.
Support for you
Parent and caregiver support groups, monthly at the Taunton office, daytime and evening. The evening group has free childcare if you book ahead. There's a luncheon for grandparents. And once a quarter, a one-hour virtual workshop on one subject: safety, social skills, what DDS funds for children and what it funds for adults.
Equipment you can borrow before you buy
CAR's Assistive Technology team runs the Lending Library, open to any age. Communication devices, switches, timers, sensory equipment. Take it home, find out whether it works for your child, bring it back. Nothing that costs several hundred dollars has to be a guess.
Finding the right provider
Finding a provider is about half the calls we get. A family gets a diagnosis and doesn't know that music therapists exist, or that a communication evaluation is something you can ask for.
We keep a Resource Directory: provider lists, useful articles and trusted resources. The provider lists cover assessment, treatment and services, educational advocates, counselors, psychologists, speech and occupational therapists, social skills programs, ABA providers, dentists, and recreation, which covers music, theater, dance and sports. The providers on them are ones families in this region have told us they had success with. They aren't our recommendations.
To get the provider lists, start with a short intake with Family Support. It lets us confirm you're in our area and send you the lists that fit where you are.
Someone to ask, for as long as you need one
You can call about anything: a diagnosis from last week, a school meeting next week, a therapy you can't evaluate, a form that makes no sense. You can also book time to go through something properly.
What Family Support looks like over the years
Movie day
CAR books the whole theater, so there's nobody to disturb. Your child can talk through it, walk the aisle, hum, sit at the back where it's quieter, or leave in the middle and come back. Plenty of parents here had written off going to the movies as a thing their family does.
Questions people actually ask
Autistic children, teens and young adults from birth to 22, and the people raising them: parents, caregivers, grandparents, anywhere in our service area across southeastern Massachusetts. You don't need a service plan or a case number to call. The support groups, the webinars and the phone line are open to anyone who lives in our service area. The rest is for children, teens and young adults with an autism diagnosis. If you're not sure whether you qualify, call and ask.
Nothing to you. Family Support is funded through CAR's contract with the Department of Developmental Services (DDS), so the state pays for it, not your family. No fees, no billing, and nothing runs through your insurance. That holds whether we're helping you with a DDS application, sending you provider lists, or answering a question over the phone.
DDS is the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services, the state agency that funds most of what we do. Yes, we'll help you apply. The application asks a lot, and the answer decides what services are available to your family. We can go through it with you in our office, on the phone, over video, or somewhere closer if getting to Taunton is hard, at no cost.
No, but we help you find the people who do. Family Support's Resource Directory includes provider lists of counselors, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, ABA centers, dentists and more, made up of providers other families in this region have had good experiences with. They aren't personal recommendations, and you get them after a short intake so we can share the ones that fit.
Through our weekly newsletter, the Monday Morning Message, or MMM for short. It's how families hear about groups, events, webinars, and news worth knowing. Every event is also on our calendar. There's one small step before you get on the list: a short intake form. It's the same form we use for anyone getting connected with us, so we know who you are when you call. Email us at hbayliesgrigoreas@communityautism.org or call our Family Support line and we'll send you the link.
Yes. CAR's Family Support funding ends at 22, and we can connect you with your local family support project, home to the Autism Navigators. Our support groups, webinars and phone line also stay open to anyone who lives in our service area, and CAR runs adult programs: the Gottschall Access Program (GAP), a three-year college experience; College Navigation, one-to-one support for students in an accredited college or continuing education program; Individualized Support, one-to-one support at home and in the community on the life you choose; Healthy Relationships & PEERS®, courses in friendship, dating and consent for teens and adults; and Assistive Technology, equipment to borrow and evaluations for adults. Call our office and we'll help you work out which fits.
Two ways, whichever fits. Call our office with the family on the line. Nobody has to tell their story twice, and if they're comfortable we can start from there. Or if you have a release of information already, email it to hbayliesgrigoreas@communityautism.org along with the family's contact details and we'll follow up with them directly. We work with a lot of school teams, DCF caseworkers, and agency staff. A warm handoff makes it easier for a family who's tired of retelling.
Yes, if you live in our service area. Our webinars, our parent and caregiver support groups, and our information and referral line are open to anyone who does. If you saw an event posted on social media, register and come. You don't need to be already connected with CAR to attend, and if the group looks like a good fit, please stay.
Yes, if you live in southeastern Massachusetts, from the tip of the Cape up to Quincy, and west to Attleboro. You can check your town on our service area map. If you're outside our area, the state has other autism support centers that cover the rest of Massachusetts, and we'll help you find yours.
Call us. You don't need paperwork, a case number, or any vocabulary you're supposed to know yet. Someone on our Family Support team will answer, or call you back, and everyone on that team is the parent of an autistic child, teen or adult. You're not explaining anything to a stranger. We'll help you figure out what to ask for, what services exist, and what to expect over the next twelve months.
We may not know your situation. We'll learn it.
Nobody here is going to claim to be an autism expert. What we have is thirty years of families, a lot of numbers in the file, and no problem at all with saying let me find out and calling you back.
The Autism Waiver Program
If your child is under 10, has MassHealth Standard and is eligible for DDS, ask us. MassHealth funds it, CAR runs it for this region, and it pays for therapy, equipment and a break for the family.
PEERS® for teens
A structured course in friendship, conversation, handling arguments and bullying, and staying safe online. For ages 13 to 17, attended with a social coach.
