Having a support planner on your team is very helpful. It is another person on your side, to help advocate for the services you and your family need.  Support planners very often come to the field from a personal or professional experience that drew them to wanting to help people with disabilities or medical conditions with their CDCS plans.

Support planners learn so much over the years about how to problem solve issues that arise and often are very creative in their approach. Support planners interact with the lead agency, the family management service provider, vendors and providers. This experience provides them with all of the viewpoints within the CDCS world. When a support planner works on a plan along with the family, it provides them with another set of eyes. Support planners are also excellent advocates for consumers within the CDCS program. They are able to help communicate the wants and needs of the consumer through the plan and to the other players. This provides important relief from the caregivers of having to make all of the communications and decisions alone. Although support planners follow the direction of their consumers, they can provide invaluable insight and resources for those with special needs.