ARKANSAS CES WAIVER FAMILIES DEMAND SPECIAL SESSION AS FAMILIES WAIT YEARS FOR ESSENTIAL DISABILITY SERVICES
Press conference Wednesday at the Arkansas State Capitol will put families—not statistics—at the center of the crisis
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas families caring for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities will gather at the Arkansas State Capitol on Wednesday, September 16, to demand that Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders call a special legislative session to address the state’s Community and Employment Support, or CES, Waiver crisis.
The CES Waiver provides essential home- and community-based services that help Arkansans with disabilities remain safe, supported and included in their communities instead of being forced into institutional care. Yet families can spend years waiting for assistance—some reporting waits approaching or exceeding a decade—while their loved ones’ needs grow more serious and caregivers become physically, emotionally and financially exhausted.
These are not names on a list. They are Arkansas children and adults who need help bathing, communicating, eating, working, participating in their communities and remaining safely at home. Their parents and caregivers are aging, missing work, draining their savings and living with the constant fear of what will happen when they can no longer provide around-the-clock care alone.
Arkansas CES Waiver Families United is calling on Governor Sanders and state lawmakers to stop treating this crisis as something that can wait until the next regular legislative session.
Families are demanding:
- An immediate special session focused on the CES Waiver crisis
- A funded and measurable plan to reduce and ultimately eliminate the waiting list
- Public transparency regarding waitlist numbers, funding, available waiver slots and anticipated timelines
- Meaningful involvement of families, caregivers and people with disabilities in every policy decision affecting their care
- Long-term investment in the providers and direct-support professionals necessary to make additional waiver slots usable
Arkansas has found the urgency and resources to hold special sessions for other priorities. Families caring for Arkansans with profound disabilities are asking why their loved ones’ safety, dignity and future have not received that same urgency.
No parent should have to wonder whether help will arrive before they die. No Arkansan with a disability should spend a decade waiting for services that could determine whether they remain safely at home. A waiting list is not a plan—and silence is not leadership.
EVENT DETAILS
WHAT: Arkansas CES Waiver Families United Press Conference
WHEN: Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Old Supreme Court Room, Second Floor, Arkansas State Capitol, Little Rock
WHO: Arkansas CES Waiver families, caregivers, advocates and supporters
PURPOSE: To demand immediate state action and a special legislative session addressing the CES Waiver crisis
The public is encouraged to attend and to join the Arkansas CES Waiver Families United Facebook page for continuing updates.
ABOUT ARKANSAS CES WAIVER FAMILIES UNITED
Arkansas CES Waiver Families United is a family-led organization advocating for timely services, transparency, accountability and dignity for Arkansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the families who support them.