The Legislature finds and declares that:

(1) The family is vital to the fundamental development of each person in the State of Nebraska;

(2) A growing number of families are searching for ways to provide supports for disabled family members in the home rather than placing them in state or private institutional or residential facilities;

(3) The informal support of family caregivers is the backbone of the system of long-term care services, and the assistance provided to a person with a disability is critical to the financial well-being of the state, particularly when such assistance helps to defer a more costly institutional or residential placement;

(4) Necessary services should be available to families caring for a disabled family member so that disabled persons may remain in the home;

(5) The State of Nebraska should make every effort to preserve each family unit having a child with a disability, to ensure that decisions regarding a child with a disability are based on the best interests of the child and the family, and to ensure that services are provided that promote independent living, family-centered care, and individual choices;

(6) The State of Nebraska should promote cost-effective health care alternatives for disabled persons and should maximize state, federal, and private funding to ensure adequate health care supports and services are available for children with disabilities and their families;

(7) Early intervention (a) has been shown to help a child with a developmental delay, or at risk of a developmental delay, to acquire skills during the most critical period of growth, (b) is a recognized public health approach that helps to ensure that a child has access to services and supports to help the child acquire living skills and increase the likelihood that the child will be self-sufficient or have less dependency on state services, and (c) is a less costly approach for the use of limited state and federal resources;

(8) A child with a disability often needs support after school and during the evening, weekend, and summertime or other school breaks in order to maximize the opportunities for socialization and community integration and to allow family caregivers the ability to work, focus on self-care, socialize, and participate in community integration;

(9) A family support waiver as proposed under section 68-1530 will supplement the continuum of developmental disability services and other state programming for children with disabilities, remediate current program gaps, and offer a pathway for children with disabilities to gain access to the medical assistance program and capped long-term services and supports; and

(10) Providing support to family caregivers allows them to remain in the workforce which in turn allows the state to benefit from the family caregivers' private health insurance as a first payer.