You Got the Waiver Slot. Now What? What Virginia’s New DD Waiver Report Means for Your Family

If you’re reading this, maybe the call finally came.

After months, maybe years, of waiting, your support coordinator told you your loved one has a DD Waiver slot.

You probably cried. Maybe you called your mom, or your sister, or just sat in the car for a minute before walking back into the house.

And then, somewhere under the relief, a new question crept in: Okay… so what happens now?

Here’s the thing nobody tells you. A slot isn’t the finish line. It’s the starting gun.

And Virginia just released numbers showing exactly how many families are running that race right now, and where they get stuck.

Let’s walk through it together.

What Virginia’s New Report Says

On September 25, 2026, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), the state agency that runs Virginia’s developmental disability services, released its annual DD Waivers Expenditures and Slots Status Report.

A quick refresher: the DD Waivers are Virginia’s three Medicaid programs (Building Independence, Family and Individual Supports, and Community Living) that pay for care at home and in the community instead of in an institution. A “slot” is your loved one’s funded seat in one of those programs.

The report has real good news in it.

Over the last two budget years, Virginia funded 3,440 new DD Waiver slots, 1,720 each year.

DBHDS calls it the largest infusion of new slots since waivers specifically for people with developmental disabilities began. Every one of those slots went to someone who had been on the Priority One waiting list.

Add in slots that were reassigned, emergency slots, and reserve slots, and 5,333 people started receiving supports over those two years that simply weren’t available to them before.

That’s thousands of Virginia families whose phone rang the way yours just did.

The Number That Matters Most Right Now

Here’s the statistic we want you to pay attention to.

As of September 8, 2026, 77% of the people who received a new slot this past year had been authorized to start at least one waiver service.

That’s a big improvement over last year, when only 61% had reached that point at the same time.

But flip it around.

Nearly one in four families who got a slot still wasn’t receiving services months later.

Closer to home, the picture is a little brighter.

Across the Community Services Boards (CSBs), the local agencies that manage waiver access, serving Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton-Newport News, and Western Tidewater, 259 new slots were allocated, and 219 of those individuals had services authorized. That’s about 85%.

Better than the state average. But it still means 40 Hampton Roads individuals holding a slot who, as of early September, hadn’t yet had services authorized.

Why the Gap Happens

The report is refreshingly honest about this. DBHDS lists the steps that cause delays between getting a slot and starting services:

• Formally accepting the slot
• Confirming or updating functional and financial eligibility
• Getting an updated physical exam
• Choosing your service providers
• The provider’s intake process
• Developing the Individual Support Plan (ISP), your loved one’s written plan of care
• Getting services authorized

Look at the two in bold.

Those are the steps that depend on finding a provider who has room, has the right staff, and can move quickly.

And they’re the steps where families lose the most time, because nobody hands you a list of who’s actually ready to start.

The Clock You’re On

Here’s the part that surprises a lot of families: Virginia’s waiver regulation sets real deadlines once a slot is assigned. Under 12VAC30-122-80:

• Within 7 calendar days of the slot assignment, your support coordinator must tell you the slot is available and what services it covers.
• Within 15 calendar days of that notice, you need to accept or decline the slot.
• Within 30 calendar days of the slot assignment, you should meet with your support coordinator to talk through your loved one’s needs, the physical exam (which must be dated within 12 months of services starting), and the assessment process. At or before that meeting, your support coordinator must give you a choice of services, providers, and settings.
• Within 30 calendar days of your loved one’s active enrollment or Medicaid eligibility confirmation, whichever comes last, services should begin.

If services can’t start in that window, the slot isn’t automatically lost. Your support coordinator can request to retain the slot, and DBHDS can approve 30-day extensions, up to four in a row, as long as there’s evidence you’re actively working to start services. If an extension is denied, you have the right to appeal.

Our Golden Ticket guide to Virginia’s DD Waiver expansion walks through the full timeline step by step, including the assessments along the way. But the short version is this: the provider search is the step you have the most control over, so start it early.

What to Do This Week

If you’ve just been offered a slot, here’s where we’d focus your energy:

• Say yes in writing, and keep a copy. Confirm acceptance with your support coordinator well before the 15-day mark.
• Schedule the physical now. It’s one of the easiest delays to prevent.
• Ask your support coordinator for the provider list on day one. Don’t wait for the 30-day meeting to start calling.
• Call more than one provider. Ask each one directly: Do you have staff available for our area right now? How long does your intake take? When could services realistically begin?
• Ask about fit, not just availability. Who would be working with your loved one? How do they match staff? What happens when a staff member calls out? (If you’ve been burned by caregiver turnover before, our post on why good caregivers are so hard to find covers what separates providers who keep caregivers from those who don’t.)
• Keep a simple log. Date, who you talked to, what they said. If you ever need to request a slot extension, that record shows you’ve been actively working to start services.

For Families Still Waiting

If you’re reading this and still don’t have a slot, we see you too.

The report is clear that the need hasn’t gone away. As of September 21, 2026, 2,632 people remained on the Priority One waiting list. DBHDS itself says that number calls for continued funding of new slots.

Our post The Waiting List Isn’t a Line explains how Virginia actually decides who gets the next slot, and what you can do to keep your loved one’s information current while you wait.

One more thing worth knowing: Virginia keeps a pool of emergency slots for situations like a primary caregiver’s death or substantiated abuse or neglect. Norfolk’s CSB received 11 emergency slots last year, more than any other CSB in Virginia. If your family’s situation changes suddenly, tell your support coordinator right away.

How We Help

For almost 20 years, we’ve been the phone call Hampton Roads families make right after the slot comes through.

We provide Personal Assistance, Respite Care, Companion Care, Supportive In-Home, Sponsored Residential, and Behavior Consultation through Virginia’s Community Living and Family and Individual Supports waivers. We know the intake steps, the paperwork, and the deadlines, and we’ll tell you honestly what we can start and when.

And because we see the person first, not the slot, our first conversation isn’t about forms. It’s about your loved one: what they love, what’s hard for them, and what a good day looks like.

You waited a long time for this. Let’s make sure it turns into real support, not another wait.

Call us at (757) 965-4899, email info@cdsva.com, or visit communitydirectservices.com. We’re here Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm, at 5705 Thurston Ave., Suite 101, in Virginia Beach.

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