Maine Community Inclusion, Shared Living, and Group Homes for Adults with Disabilities

Where Your Adult Child Lives Is the Hardest Question in Transition Planning

Employment, benefits, education — those are complicated but they follow procedures. Housing is different. It touches everything: where your child sleeps, who's with them at night, how they get to work, whether they're isolated or part of a community. For families of transition-age students in Maine, understanding the residential options funded through OADS waivers is essential to planning the post-school years.

Shared Living

Shared living is Maine's most common residential model for adults with intellectual disabilities or autism. A shared living provider (an individual or family, not a facility) opens their home to the person with a disability, providing room, board, and daily support. The provider receives a MaineCare-funded stipend, and the arrangement is overseen by a shared living agency that handles training, background checks, and ongoing monitoring.

The appeal is personal connection — the person lives with a family rather than in a staffed facility. The challenge is finding a good match. Shared living providers are independent contractors, and availability varies enormously by region. In rural northern and eastern Maine (Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis counties), the provider pool is thin. OADS and shared living agencies recruit providers, but families often do their own outreach through community networks, churches, and disability organizations.

Shared living is funded through Section 21 waiver services. Under the upcoming Lifespan Waiver, support levels will be determined using SIS-A assessment results administered by Maximus. Someone who needs overnight supervision and assistance with personal care may have greater assessed support needs than someone who primarily needs help with meal preparation and community transportation.

Group Homes

Group homes (also called community residences) are staffed residential settings where several adults with disabilities live together with 24-hour support from trained direct support professionals. These are operated by MaineCare-approved provider agencies and funded through Section 21.

Group homes provide the highest intensity of residential support short of an institutional setting. They're appropriate for individuals with significant behavioral support needs, complex medical conditions, or those who require continuous supervision. Staffing ratios vary — some homes operate at 1:3 or 1:4 staff-to-resident ratios, while others have 1:1 or 2:1 staffing for individuals with the most intensive needs.

The availability of group home placements is constrained by Section 21's enrollment cap and the statewide shortage of direct support professionals. Families planning for a group home placement need to be on the Section 21 waitlist well before the student exits school.

Community Inclusion Services

Community inclusion isn't a residential placement — it's a set of day services that support the person's participation in community life outside of work hours. Activities might include volunteering, recreation programs, educational classes, civic participation, and social skills development in integrated community settings.

Community inclusion services are available through both Section 21 and Section 29 waivers. For individuals who live independently or with family, community inclusion provides the structured social engagement and skill-building that the school system used to handle. For those in shared living or group homes, community inclusion supplements the residential supports.

Section 29 is often the faster path to community inclusion services because its enrollment is uncapped. A person can access Section 29 community inclusion while waiting on the Section 21 waitlist for residential placement.

Planning the Housing Transition

The residential question should enter IEP discussions by age 16 — not because a placement needs to happen that early, but because the waitlists and provider recruitment take years. If the plan is for the adult child to continue living at home with family while receiving community supports, that's simpler. If the plan involves shared living or a group home, the OADS intake process, SIS-A assessment, and Section 21 application all need a multi-year runway.

Independent living goals in the IEP should align with the planned residential model. A student heading toward shared living needs skills in personal care, household routines, and communication with housemates. A student heading toward more independent living needs money management, meal planning, transportation navigation, and emergency response skills.

The Maine IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes a residential planning worksheet that maps housing options against your child's support needs, waiver eligibility, and geographic availability.

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