*Trusted, Long-Term Personal Relationships

Under the Services Facilitation model, families choose their own local coordinator. Many families work with specialized agencies like “Moms In Motion” or “Toddlers to Grandparents” or independent facilitators for years, building deep trust. Support Brokers, conversely, will be managed and assigned by a single statewide Fiscal-Employer Agent (F/EA) contractor. Families worry this will turn a highly personal role into an impersonal corporate helpline.

*Loss of Consumer Choice

Currently, if a family is unhappy with their Service Facilitator, they can freely fire them and hire another agency or independent provider. Under the Support Brokerage model, options are heavily restricted because the brokers work directly under the contract of the state's chosen fiscal agent.

*Understanding of Local and Regional Barriers

Local Service Facilitators live and work in the same communities as their clients. This gives them firsthand knowledge of regional barriers, local staffing shortages, and community-specific resources. Advocates fear centralized Support Brokers will lack geographic familiarity, heavily disadvantaging rural regions like Southwest Virginia.

*Specialized Care and Clinical Expertise

Many existing Services Facilitators are Registered Nurses (RNs) or highly trained disability advocates who understand complex behavioral and medical needs. Because Support Brokerage is largely being driven by state budget-cutting measures there are severe community concerns that the quality, credentialing, and frequency of high-touch care oversight will drop.