Terms of use

What this site is, and what it is not

Tu-Via explains New Mexico's Mi Via and DD Waiver programs in plain language, written by a parent going through them. See about this site.

It is general information. It is not legal advice, medical advice, financial advice, or case management, and using the site creates no professional relationship of any kind between us. I am not a lawyer, a clinician, a case manager, or a consultant, and I have no access to your file and no authority over anybody's eligibility, budget, or services.

Decisions about your child deserve advice from someone who knows your actual situation. Use this site to walk into that conversation knowing what the words mean, not to replace it.

Not affiliated with the State of New Mexico

Tu-Via is independent. It is not the State of New Mexico, the New Mexico Health Care Authority, the Developmental Disabilities Supports Division, or any provider, case management, or consultant agency. It is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or acting for any of them.

Names such as Mi Via, DD Waiver, DDSD, and Health Care Authority are used only to describe the programs and offices this site is about.

Accuracy, and the official documents

Program facts here come from the Health Care Authority's own published pages and the service standards and forms they link to, and every page links back to its source so you can check me. Outside links are re-tested automatically each week and the resources page shows when each was last checked.

Even so: rules change mid-year, memos revise standards, offices move, phone numbers get reassigned, and I simplify things in order to make them readable. Where this site and an official document disagree, the official document governs, every time. Confirm anything that matters with your case manager, your consultant, or the Health Care Authority before you act on it.

If you find a mistake, please tell me. Corrections from families who just lived through a step are the most valuable thing this site gets.

Copying, printing, and sharing these pages

Yes. Please. You may print, save, copy, and hand out any page of this site for personal, family, caregiving, advocacy, or educational use, including:

• printing the glossary and taking it into an ISP or SSP meeting
• copying a page for another parent, a support group, or a relative helping you
• giving a printout to your case manager, consultant, teacher, or advocate
• quoting a passage, with a link or a mention of tu-via.org so people can find the source

No permission needed and no fee for any of that. Please keep it intact and current rather than editing a page and passing it off as what Tu-Via says.

For anything beyond that, republishing the site or a substantial part of it, using it in a paid product or training, or reproducing it under someone else's branding, ask first. The answer is usually yes, and asking lets me point you at the current version instead of a stale copy.

The state and federal documents this site links to are the state's and the federal government's, not mine, and their own terms apply to them.

What happens to what you send me

When you send a correction, a question, or a resource suggestion, you are giving me permission to use it to improve the site: to fix the error, add the resource, or answer the same question better for the next family.

I will not publish your name, your email address, your phone number, or anything identifying your family, and I will not add you to a mailing list, because there isn't one. If a correction becomes a change on a page, the change appears without a word about who sent it, unless you ask to be credited.

Please only send things you have the right to send. Do not send another family's information, and do not send confidential documents belonging to an agency or an employer.

How the message itself is stored, and how to have it deleted, is in the privacy policy.

A short list of things not to do

• Do not use the contact form to market to families, recruit clients, or pitch services.
• Do not present yourself as Tu-Via, or as speaking for it, and do not use the name or the mark in a way that suggests I endorse a provider, an agency, or a product.
• Do not hammer the site with automated requests, try to reach the database or the administration area, or work around the security on either.
• Do not use the site to break the law or to harm anyone.

This is a small site run by one parent. The reason for the list is that abuse costs a family the thing they came here for.

Links to other sites

Tu-Via links to state agencies, federal pages, universities, and independent organizations because you need them. Those sites are not mine, I do not control what they publish or how they handle your information, and a link is not an endorsement of everything on the other end of it.

When you follow a link, you are on their site under their terms and their privacy policy.

No warranty, and the limit of what I can be responsible for

Said plainly, because this part is usually written to be unreadable.

This site is provided as it is, free, with no warranty of any kind. I do not promise it is complete, accurate, current, uninterrupted, or fit for your particular situation, and to the extent the law allows, all implied warranties are disclaimed.

To the extent the law allows, neither the author of this site nor Studio Balke is liable for any loss arising from your use of it, including a decision made or delayed, a deadline missed, a service denied, or information that turned out to be out of date. Waiver decisions are made by the state and its contractors, on their records and their timelines, not on anything written here.

That is not me disclaiming care. It is why every page tells you to confirm with your case manager or the Health Care Authority, and why the appeal deadlines get their own paragraph in how it works.

Who these terms are with

Tu-Via is not yet an incorporated organization. Today these terms are between you and the site's author, a parent in New Mexico, with the site built and operated by Studio Balke (opens an outside website).

Two entities are planned, a nonprofit for the free information side and an LLC for anything commercial, and that structure is still being worked out. See how Tu-Via is organized. When they exist, this page will name them, and the terms carry over as they stand until then.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Mexico. If any part of them turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still stands.

Changes

These terms may change. When they do, the effective date at the top changes with them. Continuing to use the site after that means the updated terms apply.

Nothing here takes away a right you have under New Mexico or federal law.