Moving to or from New York with a developmental disability: what transfers and what does not

The short version

Leaving New York

Medicaid

New York Medicaid covers New York residents. Once you live somewhere else it ends, and the new state's application starts from the beginning with its own income rules and its own processing time. Apply as early as the new state permits and assume there will be a gap. Anything that depends on Medicaid, which for most adult developmental disability services is everything, stops with it.

OPWDD eligibility and your care manager

The OPWDD determination is a New York decision made under New York's definition. The new state's developmental disability agency will decide again, under its own definition, and it will want evidence. Before you go, ask your care manager for the eligibility letter, every evaluation the decision rested on, the current Life Plan, and a written summary of the services the person has been receiving. A new agency can work from that file in weeks; without it, re-testing takes months.

Early Intervention

Early Intervention is a federal programme that every state runs, but a New York plan does not carry over. Take a copy of the Individualized Family Service Plan and the evaluations, and refer the child to the new state's programme as soon as you have an address. Eligibility ends on the third birthday everywhere, so a child who is two and a half has very little time to lose.

School

This is the one item with a federal rule behind it. Under 34 CFR 300.323(f), when a child with an IEP moves to a new state, the new district must provide a free appropriate public education including services comparable to those in the old IEP, until it evaluates the child if it decides that is necessary and adopts a new plan. Carry the IEP and the most recent evaluations, and hand them to the new district on the day you register. Comparable services are what you are owed in the meantime, and it is fair to say so in writing.

Therapy, including ABA

Therapy funded through insurance or Medicaid is where states differ most. Whether Medicaid covers ABA, whether a diagnosis is required, whether there are hour caps, and who is licensed to deliver it all change at the state line, and your current provider will almost never be enrolled or licensed in the new state. Ask them for the assessment, the current treatment plan, recent progress data and a discharge summary; the new provider will need them for their own authorisation. Our ABA therapy guide sets out how the funding works and includes Colorado as a worked example of another state's rules.

Waivers and waiting lists

Every state has home and community-based waivers for people with developmental disabilities, under different names and with different waiting lists. Find out what the new state calls its programmes and which local agency handles applications, and join the lists the week you arrive. The wait runs from the date you apply, not the date you moved.

Moving into New York

Start with the OPWDD Front Door on 866-946-9733. Eligibility for the developmental disability system is decided by the state, not the county, and it runs on documents: diagnostic evaluations, school records and anything showing the disability began before age 22. A determination from another state is useful evidence but is not accepted as a decision. Our services, eligibility and access page lists what to have ready.

Apply for New York Medicaid separately. If the child is under three, Early Intervention in Orange County runs through the county Department of Health, and a parent can make the referral directly. If the child has an IEP, register with the school district and give them the IEP: the comparable-services rule above applies in reverse. Therapy such as ABA is covered under New York's own insurance and Medicaid rules, which include a licensure requirement for providers and, for insurance, an annual hour limit. The county Developmental Disabilities Services Division on 845-291-2600 can point you to the local pieces.

General information, not legal advice. Every state's rules are its own and they change; confirm with the receiving state's agencies before relying on anything here. Verified 2026-09-10.