Gray v. DPW - Commonwealth Court - July 28, 2006
http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/CWealth/out/119CD06_7-28-06.pdf
The court upheld the denial of a mother's petition to pay her for her care of her 21-year-old moderately mentally retarded son under the Personal Family Direct Support (PFDS) Waiver Program.
The PFDS program was developed to enhance services to people with mental retardation living at home with their families or in their own homes, provided that, in the case of people over 18, there was no "qualified provider who is not a family member...available" to provide services or only at "an extraorginarily higher cost" than the fee negotiated with a family member.
The court held that there was substantial evidence to support DPW's finding that there were qualified non-family providers in the community capable to giving services to the son, at a reasonable cost.
Mother's claim that the regulation only applied to children under 18 was not considered, because it was only raised for the first time on appeal, and not during administrative proceedings.
