Missouri manual section 6.21
Job development
Official service name: Job Development
Job Development helps a person obtain an individual competitive or customized job in an integrated workplace. It can include applications, interviews, employer outreach and negotiation, job and task analysis, assistive-technology consultation, and planning the paid and natural supports needed after a job offer.
What the manual describes
What this service can help with
- Completing applications and preparing for interviews
- Finding and contacting employers that fit the person's goals and preferences
- Analyzing jobs and tasks and considering assistive technology
- Negotiating hours, wages, duties, and workplace inclusion
- Creating a monthly job-search report and a job-placement implementation plan after employment is secured
Source-backed working pathway
To establish you'll probably need:
These steps translate the cited manual section into a practical review sequence. Confirm the current local process before acting.
Define the person's job target and support needs.
Use the person-centered service plan and any career-planning results to identify preferred work, hours, wages, location, environment, accommodations, transportation, and the person's role in the job search.
Resolve Vocational Rehabilitation and education-program responsibilities.
Document whether applicable Vocational Rehabilitation or IDEA-funded job-development services are unavailable, exhausted, inaccessible, or otherwise inapplicable, or whether one of the manual's limited no-referral circumstances applies.
Choose a qualified employment provider and authorize a time-limited search.
Confirm the provider's Department of Mental Health certification or accepted accreditation, contract, trained staff, authorized units, and how progress and employer outreach will be reported.
Carry out the individualized job-development plan.
Complete agreed applications and interviews, employer outreach, job or task analysis, accommodation and technology consultation, and negotiation while protecting the person's dignity, privacy, preferences, and active participation.
Document search results and prepare for the job start.
Review the monthly job-search and business-outreach report. After a job offer, use the placement implementation plan to confirm title, wage, expected weekly hours, transportation, onboarding, personal assistance, natural supports, and any ongoing employment service.
Important boundaries
Limits that may affect fit or authorization
- The goal is individual competitive or customized employment in an integrated general-workforce setting at or above minimum wage and the customary wage and benefit level for similar work.
- Applicable Vocational Rehabilitation and IDEA-funded services cannot be duplicated. The case record must document why those services are unavailable, exhausted, inaccessible, or otherwise inapplicable; the manual identifies limited no-referral circumstances.
- Waiver funds cannot be used for employer incentives, wage subsidies, pass-through payments, or unrelated vocational training expenses.
- Personal Care Assistance may support participation but cannot make up the entire Job Development service.
- Transportation used to carry out Job Development is included in the service rate.
- The service is time-limited. The billing table lists a maximum of 32 fifteen-minute units per day and 240 units per annual person-centered service plan, with exceptional additional units requiring regional approval.
- Comprehensive and Community Support waivers remain under a temporary renewal extension through December 27, 2026, or until CMS grants final approval. Confirm the currently approved rules with the support coordinator; proposed renewal changes are not automatically active.
Do not assume this part
Questions to confirm locally
- What exact type of competitive integrated job is the person seeking?
- What Vocational Rehabilitation or education-funded services apply, and how is nonduplication documented?
- What parts of the job search will the person do directly, and what assistance is needed?
- Which wages, hours, duties, locations, and workplace conditions are acceptable?
- What transportation, accommodation, technology, personal assistance, or natural supports may be needed?
- What units and timeframe are authorized, and how often will the monthly search report be reviewed?