The National Core Indicators (NCI) Survey is used by the California Department of Developmental Disabilities to assess performance in services and supports provided to people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD). The NCI survey has been used in California since 2010 as a requirement by the Welfare and Institutions Code, Section 4571 to implement a nation-wide quality assessment survey.

The survey was developed by the Human Services Research Institute and the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) and is used in 48 states and Washington, D.C. In California, the NCI Survey is conducted by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD).

The survey asks questions about these areas of an individual's life:

• Residence
• Employment
• Relationships
• Involvement in the community
• Information and Planning
• Health and Welfare
• Safety
• Respect and Rights
• Access to services and supports
• Satisfaction of services
• Choices, decision making and control

To learn more about the NCI surveys, visit https://www.dds.ca.gov/QA/.

Surveys that are currently being distributed

The State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) has begun to send out Adult Family Surveys (AFS) and Family Guardian Surveys (FGS).

Surveys will be mailed to all families with children 18 years or older living at home (AFS) or living outside of their family home (FGS), and receiving at least one regional center funded service other than case management. These surveys will be mailed and collected between the end of November 2019 through June 30, 2020.

An online survey is available in English. The Department of Developmental Services (DDS) plans to make the survey available in other languages in the future. For the online survey, a unique access code is provided to each family. You can locate your access code at the top right hand corner of the survey.

In October, a letter was mailed to invite families to complete their survey online before receiving the paper surveys in the mail. If the survey is completed online by the end of November, the paper surveys will not be mailed to them.

You will find links to postcards available in different languages that announce the survey and include a phone number and e-mail to contact if you have questions.

We hope that you will participate in these important surveys as your feedback is very valuable to us.

NCI survey announcement in English

NCI survey announcement in Spanish

NCI survey announcement in Vietnamese

NCI survey announcement in Arabic

NCI survey announcement in Armenian

NCI survey announcement in Chinese

NCI survey announcement in Farsi

NCI survey announcement in Hmong

NCI survey announcement in Khmer

NCI survey announcement in Korean

NCI survey announcement in Laotian

NCI survey announcement in Russian

NCI survey announcement in Tagalog

In-Person Surveys

SDCC has reported that they will be conducting in-person surveys. The in-person surveys allow an opportunity for individuals to share what they think of the services they receive, and survey responses will be compared to answers from other regional centers and other states. An interviewer will gather information through a series of questions with the individuals. Interviews are voluntary, and the responses will be anonymous. The interviews will be conducted virtually rather than in person as a result of COVID-19.  You can visit SDCC’s website for more information about the in-person survey cycle as well as opportunities to participate as an interviewer: https://scdd.ca.gov/qap/