People with disabilities love this program. Why are Latinos underrepresented?

For instance, Naomi Hagel, an independent facilitator and former regional center manager, said that in the traditional system, someone might have gotten approval for respite — caregiving hours to relieve their family members — "but you can't access it because you can't find anybody to work for minimum wage."

Hagel gave the example of a 10-year-old client who is nourished through a stomach tube. "None of the respite agencies wanted to touch him" for liability reasons, which meant he wasn't getting that care, she said.

Under the new program, Hagel said, the family could advertise for caregivers willing to meet his specific needs. The program also allows them to pay more "because you cut out the middleman of the agencies."

Budgets are initially drawn up based on cost of the services that someone was getting before, but can also be adjusted if it is shown that the person has previously unmet or emerging needs.

Some Californians begin that budgeting process at a disadvantage because less was spent on their services in the past. Spending in the traditional system has long been dogged by racial and ethnic disparities.

"I can't tell you how many times I start a budget and it says 'zero'" for services previously paid for through the regional center, said independent facilitator Mellissa De Conza. In the Self-Determination Program, she said, those same families can end up receiving valuable services such as art classes or a personal assistant.

But to secure such a budget increase, families and their advocates have to make their case for the need. Regional centers face federal requirements for assuring "financial accountability," including documenting the reasons for a budget increase, the developmental services department said.

Elizabeth Gomez, cofounder and executive director of the advocacy and support organization Integrated Community Collaborative, said that Latino families who received scant services in the past have had to slog through a slow process of "assessments to determine what you should have been receiving all along."

That can take months, Gomez said, because there aren't enough experts available to come out and evaluate clients and determine what kind of services they need.

Maribel Ahumada, who is also a cofounder of Integrated Community Collaborative, said it had taken months to get a company to assess D'Angelo for "adaptive skills" services to help him become more independent, so that they could be included in the budget. That was just part of a tedious process that took roughly a year, she said.

"The regional center was trying to control every single little thing," she said.

Westling said that even if people are starting from a low number, the process of hammering out a budget can result in "greater opportunity and greater equity than in the traditional program."

"But is it an easy process to navigate when you have a lot of other things going on in your life? It's not."

Besides such barriers, Latinos served by the regional centers tend to be younger, and younger people have been slightly less likely to enter the program compared with adults, Westling said.

Parents and advocates trying to navigate regional centers have complained that those with time and resources to put up a fight are more likely to get needed services, whether in the traditional system or the new program.

"Even though the services are technically free ... oftentimes the parents that are able to access the services have spent considerable dollars on private advocates and private attorneys," said Areva Martin, president and chief executive of the Special Needs Network.

"So the system doesn't work the same for all families. Your education level, your financial resources — all of those things dictate, in many instances, how successful you are going to be."

In light of such concerns, state Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-Panorama City) put forward a bill that would "ensure equitable enrollment by race, ethnicity and regional center" in the Self-Determination Program. SB 1281 would also require standardized procedures at regional centers for enrollment, budgeting and other aspects of the program.

"We just need to make sure that everyone has access to this program," Menjivar said at a state hearing.

The Association of Regional Center Agencies said it would back the bill if the wording were changed to "promote" rather than "ensure" equitable enrollment, warning there could otherwise be an unintended result of "freezing enrollment in areas where community members have enrolled at a greater rate."

Another bill, SB 1463, would create a state position dedicated to overseeing the rollout of the program. The Department of Developmental Services also allocated more than $2 million to regional centers this budget year for efforts to help people better access the Self-Determination Program and to reduce disparities.