and lenore can t find one. ok. when you re ready. reporter: lenore has taken nick for interviews at a number of agencies that provide social workers. but none of them have agreed to take his case. to raise an autistic child you almost, you can t you can t do it without the help. and right now um, i don t know how we re gonna do it. i don t know what kinda life he s gonna have because we re looking at a really barren landscape for him. i don t think i ve ever been more terrified than i am right now. reporter: autism advocate linda walder says government programs aren t designed for adults with autism. the problem is, is that system is really broken. it s dated. it s not addressing the needs of adults and the growing population of adults living with autism. reporter: it s not addressing the reality we have now.
some good news. his mom finds a social worker to take his case and after three months on the waitlist, he s approved for that self determination program. lenore now has state medicaid money to hire a support team for nick, including some familiar faces like his former teacher, holly. the team that comes to help him, helps me do better for him. because when they re here they meet his needs. reporter: you can breathe. they carry him. and i get to sit back as mom and go, you go guy. like, look you can do it. i don t know what s bothering you today. reporter: and here s something that may seem odd that makes nick s mom proud, he s crying. expressing emotion like this has always been a challenge for him. so when he cries, there s a little happy dance goin on from my side because he didn t do it before. he does it now. which means i bet there s a lot more that he didn t do before that s gonna happen. and we re ready. reporter: but lenore can t sit back for long there s another
worker. and lenore can t find one. ok. when you re ready. reporter: lenore has taken nick for interviews at a number of agencies that provide social workers. but none of them have agreed to take his case. to raise an autistic child you almost, you can t you can t do it without the help. and right now um, i don t know how we re gonna do it. i don t know what kinda life he s gonna have because we re looking at a really barren landscape for him. i don t think i ve ever been more terrified than i am right now. reporter: autism advocate linda walder says government programs aren t designed for adults with autism. the problem is, is that system is really broken. it s dated. it s not addressing the needs of adults and the growing population of adults living with autism. reporter: it s not addressing
and lenore can t find one. ok. when you re ready. reporter: lenore has taken nick for interviews at a number of agencies that provide social workers. but none of them have agreed to take his case. to raise an autistic child you almost, you can t you can t do it without the help. and right now um, i don t know how we re gonna do it. i don t know what kinda life he s gonna have because we re looking at a really barren landscape for him. i don t think i ve ever been more terrified than i am right now. reporter: autism advocate linda walder says government programs aren t designed for adults with autism. the problem is, is that system is really broken. it s dated. it s not addressing the needs of adults and the growing population of adults living with autism. reporter: without appropriate