"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." - Maya Angelou
Our family is just like your family! We go to work. We want to feel useful and independent. We enjoy getting a paycheck. Some of us retire. We go shopping and to the movies. We take vacations. We tell jokes and laugh with each other. We want to be friends and have friends. We go to our houses of worship to celebrate our faith. We want, most of all, a home where we are safe, nurtured, respected and loved.
At CICL, we are more than a service provider that provides a set service for a designated period of time. Our commitment is lifelong for as long as an individual wants to be with us. Just like you, those we serve choose who they want to live with (Self-Determination.) It is our mission to provide opportunities to each person who chooses us to make his/her life as meaningful and as independent as possible.
Our family members ages range from early 20s to our most senior members who are in their 80s and enjoying their time as senior citizens. Some work independently at jobs in the community. They are valued and celebrated for their dedication to hard work and their loyalty. Some of them have worked at their jobs for 15 years or more. Others work in jobs in supported employment in the community, while others work in Adult Services Centers operated by county boards of developmental disabilities. When the work day is done, just like you, they return home.
Some members of our Choices family proudly own their own homes, with the support, where needed, of our staff. Others live in their own apartmens or share an apartment with a friend, with the ongoing support of our Semi-Independent Living (SIL) staff. Others live in group settings in homes where they receive 24 hours a day support from our Direct Support Professionals (DSPs.)
We are there to support recreation, leisure-time activities, holidays and other celebrations, vacations and more - all of the things we do with our families - even fall in love and marry, as some of our clients have done.