- Northern Virginia
Your family home instead of a group home — and the money to pay for it.
We help Virginia families create, finance, and operate an individual group home for their loved one with a disability — using the Community Living Waiver funding they are already entitled to.
Free. No obligation. Talk with a parent who has done it.
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Founded by the single mom of an adult daughter with Angelman Syndrome.
Listed on Virginia Navigator as a Sponsored Residential home service.
Guidance through every form, inspection, and training requirement.
Started by a mom who needed this to exist
Lisa Escoto used a lifetime of experience as a government employee, government contractor, and special needs mom to create a government-funded individual group home for her adult daughter, Elena, who lives with Angelman Syndrome.
She built it because staying home, with her, remained the best option for Elena — and because she couldn’t keep providing that care alone. Family-Run Individual Group Homes of Virginia exists so other families don’t have to figure it out from scratch.
Four ways we help you get there
The regulations are extensive and can feel overwhelming. Our job is to make them survivable.
Is this right for your family?
An honest look at what Virginia’s Sponsored Residential program offers, and what it asks of you as the Sponsor.
Housing approval, made concrete
Our Individual Group Home Roadmap and Housing Checklist show exactly what your home needs to qualify. Rentals count too.
Caregiver approval & training
Background checks, TB testing, CPR and First Aid, the 32-hour medication (MAT) course, agency onboarding — in order, with support.
Free webinars & resources
Live and on-demand sessions on waiver funding, housing, and community options in Northern Virginia.
The waiver already exists. Most families never hear what it can do.
Under Virginia’s Sponsored Residential program, a Developmental Disability Community Living Waiver can fund an individual group home inside your own house — with you as the Sponsor. Supplemental Security Income benefits continue.
- Recruit and retain qualified staff at a competitive wage, with benefits
- Pay yourself or a family member to provide care
- Cover housing costs — mortgage, rent, utilities, upkeep
- Pay for a day program, or build your own outings and activities
- Pay for therapies, medical care, medications, and supplements
- Pay for food
- Cover anything else your loved one needs to be happy, healthy, and safe
The program also allows one or two individuals with disabilities in the home — so siblings can stay together, or a housemate can join with their own waiver funds.
We have been in your shoes
Lived experience, not a brochure
Our founder is the single parent of an adult child with a disability. She has filled out these forms for her own daughter, in her own house.
Technical support and steady footing
Structured training and practical help with the regulatory and administrative requirements tied to the Community Living Waiver — plus the emotional guidance families actually need.
You stay the parent
The oversight is real: daily progress notes, monthly visits, inspections. In return you keep your loved one home, and you decide how the funds are spent.
— Janice P., mom and sponsor to an adult son with autism
Start with a webinar
Your Family Home Instead of a Group Home — and the Money to Pay for It
Thursday, September 24, 2026, 7 pm. Choosing between Sponsored Residential and a group home, qualifying for funding, and paying yourself or family members.
Housing and Community Activity Options in Northern Virginia
Recorded August 6, 2026, with Lisa Escoto and Joy Charles of OSG — funding to support your loved one at home, and building real community around them.
My kid is turning 18. Now what?
Waivers, guardianship and conservatorship, special needs trusts, ABLE accounts, day programs, benefits counseling, and estate planning — the links we hand families most often.
Nothing About Us Without Us
The disability community is the largest minority community in the world — and the only one anyone can join at any time. We are all one diagnosis, one accident, or one incident away.
Virginians have a disability
Americans have a disability
In their words
— Jen T., mom and backup sponsor to an adult son with autism
— A.W., parent and sponsor of an adult child with autism
— Janice P., mom and sponsor to an adult son with autism
Tell us about your loved one
Book a free strategy session, or email Lisa directly. You will hear back within 48 hours — and nothing gets decided in that first conversation except whether this path is worth exploring.