Who does Golden Gate Regional Center serve?
GGRC serves families living in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties — one of the 21 regional center territories created by the Lanterman Act WIC §4500 Services are provided regardless of your income. Where your family lives decides which center is yours, not where your child goes to school or sees a doctor.
It is a compact territory with a long shape: from northern Marin down through San Francisco and the length of the Peninsula to the San Mateo County line. Three counties, three very different housing and transit realities, one set of rules.
If you live in the East Bay, in Santa Clara County, or in Sonoma or Napa, a different center serves you. Check first with our Regional Center finder — it takes seconds and saves a phone call you did not need to make.
How do I apply to GGRC right now?
GGRC starts intake from a downloadable referral form, and which one you need depends on your child’s age: the Early Start form for ages 0–36 months, or the Lanterman Intake form for ages 3 and up. As of September 2026, GGRC’s apply page says its new online application is being repaired and asks families to fill out the form and email it to intake@ggrc.org in the meantime.
We date-stamp that last sentence on purpose. A broken online form is a temporary state, and by the time you read this the online application may be back. Check GGRC’s apply page before you assume either way — but do not let the uncertainty stop you. An emailed PDF starts your child’s file exactly as well as a web form does, and it gives you something a web form often does not: a sent-items copy with a date on it.
GGRC: apply for services →You do not need a diagnosis, a doctor’s referral, or a lawyer to send either form. For children 3 and older, eligibility turns on substantial disability — significant functional limits in 3 or more major life areas, from a disability that began before age 18 WIC §4512. Under 3, Early Start is broader: a measured developmental delay, an established risk condition, or a combination of high-risk factors, with no label required.
- Download the form that matches your child’s age today. If your child turns 3 soon, ask GGRC which form to use rather than guessing — the two routes have different clocks.
- Attach what you already have — pediatrician notes, evaluation or diagnostic reports, an IEP or IFSP, preschool observations. Send the form now and the rest later if you have to.
- Write one page in your own words describing a hard day, start to finish. It is often the most useful document in the whole packet.
- Keep the sent email. That is your proof of the date, and every deadline below runs from it.
Initial intake: 15 working days from your request WIC §4642. Assessment: 120 days from intake — 60 days where delay would put your child at risk WIC §4643. Under 3: 45 days from referral for evaluation and the first plan. IPP: 60 days after the assessment is complete WIC §4646.
Which GGRC office is mine?
GGRC runs one office per county — San Francisco (its main office), San Rafael for Marin families, and San Mateo for the Peninsula — and each has its own direct phone number. Most of your contact will be with your county’s office rather than the headquarters.
That structure is a genuine convenience: you are not competing with two other counties for the same front desk. It also means the number you find in an old email or a search result may be a different county’s office. When in doubt, call the main line at the top of this page, or take the current numbers from GGRC’s own offices page — never from a third-party listing.
GGRC office locations →Can I do this in my language?
Yes, and it is a right rather than a favor. California law requires the regional center to conduct the planning process in your preferred language and to give you the plan in it WIC §4646. GGRC says directly that it can help you complete your application and intake in your preferred language, and publishes its site in nine languages besides English.
Those are Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Korean, and Portuguese. If yours is not among them, ask anyway — the statutory duty runs to your language, not to a published list. Ask at the moment you send the form, so an interpreter can be scheduled rather than improvised. And do not put a bilingual older child in the position of interpreting a meeting about their sibling’s disability.
What is the same everywhere, and what is local?
| Same at every regional center | Local to GGRC |
|---|---|
| The 3-of-7 substantial disability standard WIC §4512 | One office per county — San Francisco, San Rafael, San Mateo |
| The intake, assessment, and IPP clocks WIC §4642 WIC §4643 WIC §4646 | Intake starts from a downloadable form, split by age |
| A denial must arrive as a written Notice of Action | Whether the online application is working — it was verified broken as of September 2026; confirm before relying on it |
| Your right to the whole process in your preferred language WIC §4646 | Respite baselines and purchase-of-service patterns — DDS publishes this data annually; ask your service coordinator for current local numbers |
One caution specific to an expensive region: cost of living is not a lawful reason to reduce a service, and neither is a center’s budget. The Lanterman Act makes services an entitlement for people who qualify. If you hear a version of “we can’t afford that here,” ask for it in writing.
What if GGRC says no?
Ask for the written Notice of Action. A “no” said in a meeting is not a decision and starts no clock. From the day you receive the notice you have 60 days to request an informal meeting, mediation, or a fair hearing WIC §4710.5. If a service your child already gets is being cut and you want it to continue while you appeal, that request has to go in within 30 days of receiving the notice WIC §4715.
Write both dates on the notice itself the day it arrives. Then get free help — the Office of Clients’ Rights Advocacy (OCRA), part of Disability Rights California, staffs advocates who handle Lanterman Act appeals for families at no cost.
How to appeal a Regional Center denial, step by step →