Competitive Integrated Employment in Delaware: Job Coaching, Customized Employment, and Funding

Delaware's Employment First policy emphasizes competitive integrated employment as a preferred outcome for people with disabilities — not sheltered workshops, not day programs, not facility-based work. The state has committed to this through both policy and funding, but families leaving the school system still need to understand how the money flows and which agencies are responsible for what.

What Competitive Integrated Employment Means

Competitive integrated employment is a specific legal term, not an aspiration. It means:

• The person works in a typical community setting alongside non-disabled co-workers
• The pay is at least minimum wage, consistent with what non-disabled workers earn for the same work
• The person has the same opportunities for advancement and benefits as other employees

Services that place people in segregated settings — sheltered workshops, enclaves, or work crews made up entirely of people with disabilities — do not meet this standard. Families can ask why an agency is recommending one and whether an integrated employment alternative has been considered.

How Job Coaching Gets Funded

Job coaching is the most common support for people with significant disabilities who work competitively. A job coach provides on-site training, task analysis, environmental adaptation, and employer communication. In Delaware's ESSE process, job coaching funding follows a two-phase model:

Phase 1 — DVR funds initial placement. In the ESSE process, DVR authorizes and funds job development through the selected provider while the student is still in school, with the goal of securing a paid, integrated community employment position before exit.

Phase 2 — DDDS funds long-term follow-along. In an ESSE handoff, long-term follow-along funding transitions from school and DVR resources to DDDS, so employment support can continue under a different funding source.

The ESSE program coordinates this handoff while the student is still in school, so adult-service coordination can be in place before graduation day.

Customized Employment

Standard job placement assumes the person applies for an existing position and performs predefined tasks. Customized employment takes a different approach — it starts with the person's strengths and negotiates a job description with an employer that matches what the person can do well.

This might mean carving out specific tasks from an existing role (a restaurant employee who only handles food prep, not customer service), creating a new position based on an unmet employer need, or restructuring work schedules around the person's peak performance hours.

Families can ask DVR and DDDS provider networks whether customized employment is available. Community providers like ServiceSource and Rise Mid-Atlantic appear in Delaware's Pre-ETS network, but the services available depend on the program and authorization. The key is that customized employment must still meet the competitive integrated standard — community setting, competitive wages, integrated workforce.

What Families Should Push For

When DVR or a provider suggests a day program or facility-based placement as the first option, families should ask:

1. Why competitive integrated employment isn't being pursued first, consistent with Delaware's Employment First policy
2. What specific barriers to competitive employment the agency has identified, and what services could address those barriers
3. Whether customized employment has been explored as an alternative to standard job placement

These questions should be asked at the IEP meeting (if the student is still in school) or during the IPE development meeting with DVR. Document the answers in writing.

The Delaware IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide covers the full employment pathway from Pre-ETS through long-term DDDS-funded job coaching, with advocacy prompts for each decision point where families need to push back against lower expectations.

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