Fayetteville is the seat of Cumberland County and home to a large military and veteran community, and the public systems families here rely on follow the same statewide structure used everywhere in North Carolina: a county-based agency for early intervention before age 3, a school district Child Find duty from 3 onward, and a regional public authority managing Medicaid behavioral health and the state's long-waitlisted autism waiver.

This page names the specific contacts inside that structure for Cumberland County — the CDSA that handles early referrals, the districts serving the Fayetteville area, a diagnostic center that covers the county, and the local Medicaid system — with every fact sourced to the agency or organization that publishes it.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the North Carolina page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Fayetteville (Cumberland County).

Early intervention under 3: North Carolina Infant-Toddler Program (NC ITP), delivered locally by the CDSA of the Cape Fear (Fayetteville)

North Carolina's Part C early intervention program, the NC Infant-Toddler Program, works through 16 regional Children's Developmental Services Agencies; Cumberland County's is the Fayetteville office of the CDSA of the Cape Fear, which also serves Bladen, Robeson, and Sampson counties. A parent, physician, allied health professional, or educator can start a referral by phone, fax, letter, in person, or the state's NC ITP Referral form, with no diagnosis needed to begin. CDSA staff gather developmental and medical history and complete the evaluations used to decide whether a child under 3 qualifies. However a family pays for health coverage, or doesn't, screening, evaluation, and service coordination through the CDSA cost nothing.

• North Carolina Infant-Toddler Program (NC ITP), delivered locally by the CDSA of the Cape Fear (Fayetteville)
• Referral phone: 910-912-2200 (CDSA of the Cape Fear, Fayetteville office)

New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.

School districts and special education

The NC Department of Public Instruction's Exceptional Children Division coordinates Child Find statewide — finding and evaluating children from birth through 21 who may have a disability — while each district manages its own intake. Cumberland County Schools is the primary district covering Fayetteville. Families along the county's western edge, toward Harnett County, may instead fall under a neighboring district's Child Find team, since North Carolina's UNC TEACCH regional network groups Cumberland with Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, and Wake counties for evaluation and treatment referrals.

• Cumberland County Schools — Exceptional Children's Services contact Ayanna Richard, 910-678-2440, ayannarichard@ccs.k12.nc.us
• Harnett County Schools — neighboring district west of Fayetteville; district office 910-893-8151

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Fayetteville

These are hospital and university programs with public intake information. Listing here is informational — it is not a recommendation, and it is not medical advice. Public school evaluation is free and does not require any of these.

• UNC TEACCH Autism Program — Raleigh Center — diagnostic evaluation, intervention and therapy services, education, and consultation for individuals on the autism spectrum; the Raleigh Center's regional catchment includes Cumberland County as part of UNC's statewide TEACCH network, so call ahead to confirm the current referral process · 919-445-5800

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Alliance Health (Cumberland County's LME/MCO)

North Carolina funds Medicaid-paid behavioral health, substance use, and I/DD services through regional public managed-care organizations called LME/MCOs, and Cumberland County's is Alliance Health. Alliance manages local access to the NC Innovations Waiver — the state's home- and community-based Medicaid waiver for autism and other I/DD — through a Tailored Plan, currently the only NC Medicaid plan type that opens waiver services. Because far more people qualify than there are funded slots, the state keeps a Registry of Unmet Needs instead of a normal enrollment process; a 2025 NC Senate bill counted about 19,000 people on that registry statewide. Families can ask Alliance to register a child well before a diagnosis is finished, and can separately ask about NC Medicaid's 1915(i) option, which covers some similar services without costing a family its place on the registry.

• Alliance Health (Cumberland County's LME/MCO)
• Phone: 1-800-510-9132 (Alliance Health member and recipient services)

Local organizations that help Fayetteville families

• Exceptional Children's Assistance Center (ECAC) — North Carolina's Parent Training and Information Center, reachable at 704-892-1321 or the statewide helpline 1-800-962-6817, at no cost for any family raising a child with a disability from birth to 26
• The Arc of Cumberland County — local chapter of the national Arc network serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Fayetteville and Cumberland County (910-867-2141)

Documented waits and access notes

Wait times change. Each note below links to the public source it came from — confirm current status directly with the program.

• A bill filed in the North Carolina Senate in 2025 (S246) reported approximately 19,000 people statewide waiting on the NC Innovations Waiver registry, and stated the list had roughly doubled over the prior decade while only about 2,000 new slots were added statewide in that time. (source)
• Cumberland County Schools has only 90 calendar days from a written referral to finish evaluating a child, hold the eligibility and IEP meetings, and place the child in services, under North Carolina’s firm statewide rule. (source)
• The Fayetteville office of the CDSA of the Cape Fear must complete its evaluation and hold the initial IFSP meeting inside 45 days of referral, the same federal Part C timeline every North Carolina CDSA runs on. (source)
• A decade-long wait is not unusual on the NC Innovations Waiver's registry, since the state has added new funded slots far more slowly than new names have joined the statewide list. (source)