Virginia program
Help from a regional children’s network (Care Connection for Children)
Regional centers help children with lasting physical conditions coordinate care and sometimes pay for services.
What it is
Regional centers help children with lasting physical conditions coordinate care and sometimes pay for services.
This is a separate program from the CCC Plus waiver. The regional center decides which conditions it serves. Its service fund also has an income test.
Eligibility rules
- The statewide Care Connection description is for children under 21 with a physical condition lasting or expected to last at least 12 months and greater-than-usual service needs. The regional center still decides whether it serves your child's condition.
- The service fund’s gross-income ceiling is 300% of poverty.
What you get
- Care coordination for children who meet the regional program’s rules.
- An approved fund can help with medicines, tests, equipment and hospital stays.
What the rules cover
- Spending from the service fund requires approval before the service.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your oncology social worker whether the regional center accepts children with leukemia.
- Have your child’s diagnosis, expected care needs and family income ready for a referral if appropriate.
The regional center · Official page ↗
If you decide to apply
- Northern Virginia accepts referrals at 703-698-2450 or 844-462-7376 and through an online form.
- Your oncology social worker can use the VDH regional directory to find the center serving your address. Northern Virginia contact numbers do not serve every region.
Good to know
The Northern Virginia center does not take cancer cases. Other regional centers each decide for themselves, so ask the one serving your address.
Other details
- Northern Virginia/Inova expressly excludes cancer and tumors. The other regional centers should be asked separately whether they accept a child with leukemia. The statewide program describes lasting physical conditions in children under 21, but that description does not establish each center's cancer policy. Your oncology social worker can check the center serving your address.
Official sources
“Does our regional Care Connection center accept children with leukemia? If it does, what would it add, and could you help with a referral?”
Why I’m asking: I do not want to count on help that the regional program cannot provide.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
One phone call to ask whether your region takes a child with leukemia.
Your social worker
The oncology social worker usually knows the regional centre's answer already.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The regional centre
- Ask your social worker
- “Does our regional Care Connection for Children centre take children with leukemia? The Northern Virginia one lists cancer as excluded.”
How to apply
First step: Ask your oncology social worker whether your region's centre takes a child with leukemia before you fill in anything.
- Ask your own regional centre directly whether it takes a child with leukemia.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Referral through the regional centre. Northern Virginia takes referrals on 703-698-2450 or 844-462-7376 and by an online form.
What to gather
- Your locality
- The diagnosis letter
How long: No published timeline.
What a yes looks like
A regional centre takes the referral and names what the fund can pay for.
What a no looks like, and the next move
The centre says cancer is excluded, which is what the one readable page says. Nothing else changes on your list.
Watch out
- Not the same as the waiver with similar initials; different agency, different rules.
- Free care coordination does not override a clinical exclusion.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Care coordination, and a fund that can pay for some medicines, tests, therapies, equipment and hospital stays at or under 300% of the poverty line, after approval.
- $300 — Income ceiling on the fund that pays for services
Covers: Care coordination for a child with a long-term condition · A fund that can pay for certain approved services
What it costs the family: Northern Virginia says its care coordination is free whatever the income or insurance.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- under 21 in the Northern Virginia programme
- Condition
- a physical condition that has lasted or is expected to last at least 12 months; the Northern Virginia programme lists cancer and tumours as excluded
- Income
- 300% of the poverty line, gross, for the fund that pays for services
- Approval
- spending from the fund needs approval first
The trap: This is not the same thing as the Commonwealth Coordinated Care Plus waiver, despite the similar initials. They are different programmes run by different agencies.
Where I read this
- VDH — Care Connection for Children — Virginia Department of Health, read September 10, 2026
- Inova Care Connection for Children — Eligibility — Inova Health System, read September 10, 2026