Guide - How to support children and young people to remain in their family home
SGP KP Publishing
Exported on 2025-01-22 22:05:42
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Table of Contents
Recent updates …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Before you start …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Reasons a family may be in crisis due to their child or young person’s disability support needs ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Planner considerations …………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Community and mainstream supports …………………………………………………………………….. 8
How to prepare for the plan meeting ……………………………………………………………………. 10
Core supports ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
Social and community participation ………………………………………………………………………………… 10
Maintaining current family support …………………………………………………………………………………. 11
Short term accommodation, including respite ………………………………………………………… 11
Specialist children’s use case ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
Capacity building supports ………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
Coordination of support (formerly support coordination) ……………………………………………………. 12
Specialist support coordination ……………………………………………………………………………………… 12
Behaviour support ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Safeguards …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
Building family relationships and capacity ……………………………………………………………………….. 14
Capital supports …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
Home modifications……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14
Transition to adulthood planning …………………………………………………………………………. 15
Disclosure Log-FOI 24/25-0547
This article provides guidance for a planner delegate, planner (non-partnered area), early childhood partner or local area coordinator to understand:
- reasons a family may be in crisis due to their child or young person’s disability support needs
- planner considerations
- how to prepare for the plan meeting
- transition to adulthood planning.
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Recent updates
12 August 2024
Guidance updated to:
- mention the Plan Conversation Support Tool (PCST) must be used for all new plans and plan reassessments
- change article name Add or update support coordination funding in a plan approval case to Understand support coordination and psychosocial recovery coach funding.
1 July 2024
Article name changed from Guide – Children at risk of requiring accommodation outside the family home to Guide – How to support children and young people to remain in their family home.
Updated guidance to help you:
- record reasonable and necessary supports for a child participant to support them to remain in their family home
- connect the family with community and mainstream supports that can help.
Before you start
You have read and understood:
- Our Guideline – Reasonable and necessary supports (external)
- Our Guideline – Short Term Accommodation or Respite (external)
- Our Guideline – Your plan (external)
- Our Guideline – Child representatives (external)
- Our Guideline – Home modifications (external)
- Children and Young People (CYP)
- Participant safeguarding policy (external)
Article Support categories article Understand support coordination and psychosocial recovery coach funding article Guide – Behaviour Support.
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3 Reasons a family may be in crisis due to their child or young person’s disability support needs
The family of a child or young person with significant disability-related support needs may identify that they’re having difficulty managing behaviours in the family home. Some of these might include:
- child characteristics, like escalating complex and challenging behaviours including abuse, property damage and violence
- non-attendance at school
- indicators, like parents who have limited access to appropriate services because they live in a remote location. There can also be situations where the functional impact of the child or young person’s disability means the family need higher levels of support to sustain care in the family home.
The best place for a child or young person is in the family home. Family can mean different things to different people, but it’s essential for a child to live with their loved ones wherever possible. Early intervention is important because putting the right supports in place early can help maintain the family living together. These might include in-home supports, support coordination, capacity building, behaviour support and disability support worker training. This can help to implement consistent behaviour management strategies in the home environment.
Children have many milestones and transitions in their lives that you need to consider when you build their plan. Making sure the supports are sustainable in the future is crucial for their development.
We generally don’t fund supported independent living (SIL) or specialist disability accommodation (SDA) for children or young people. Unless a child or young person is in a statutory arrangement, they are provided with supports and accommodation by their parents or guardians.
If there are parental capacity or mainstream interface issues, mainstream services should be provided through the relevant child safety agency. For example, if:
- a parent or parents are unwell or deceased
- housing is inappropriate
- there is a substantial risk to the child. The NDIA wouldn’t generally fund this. To learn more, go to Mainstream and community supports - Child protection and family support (external).
Research shows that children who live away from their family and outside the family home experience significant trauma. They are at very high risk of abuse and neglect.
Sometimes it can be difficult for a planner delegate to support a child with significant disability-related support needs, whilst also maintaining a holistic and family-centred approach. Parents in crisis can find it challenging to talk about in-home and capacity building supports.
They may:
- want more out-of-home supports
- want more short-term accommodation (STA)
- experience disability themselves
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- run out of funding early
- experience behaviours of concern. This might look like property damage or abuse by their child
- experience a loss of respite effect if the child only attends school intermittently or not at all.
There may also be:
- siblings impacted by the child’s disability
- multiple people in the household who are NDIS participants
- other issues in the home such as domestic and family violence, drug and alcohol abuse or mental health concerns. Or the family might be isolated, in a rural or regional area or a single parent family. Generally, mainstream services are the appropriate response to homelessness. Funded supports need to meet the [NDIS funding criteria (external)](NDIS funding criteria (external)).
In some rare instances, young people who are nearly 18 years of age can request an exceptional circumstances approval for SIL or SDA if they are eligible, particularly if the behaviours of concern are significant. This isn’t a response to homelessness and you must prioritise evidence-based decision-making.
Planner considerations
When you consider supports in the participant’s plan, think about:
- whether the child has good supports in place, such as in-home supports, capacity building including a behaviour support plan, support coordination or STA. If there aren’t good supports in place, a plan reassessment is needed. This will make sure relevant disability-related supports are included to help keep the child in the family home.
- if good supports are in place, whether they meet the NDIS funding criteria
- if the child protection agency requests STA whilst they are undertaking an assessment, this isn’t something the NDIA would normally fund. Generally, it isn’t appropriate for a family to request an urgent plan reassessment if they have over utilised funded supports in the child participant’s plan. This could be an NDIS integrity issue which may involve fraud and potentially a child protection response.
Overutilisation can raise questions like:
- Who is caring for the child?
- Who is the decision-maker?
- Which safeguarding and compliance measures are in place?
- Is a registered provider being used for restricted regulated practice (RRP)?
- Is STA being utilised?
- Is funding during school hours being claimed? Other risks you need to think about if the child is being supported out of the family home:
- Does the provider understand the risks they are taking by supporting a child 24/7 out of home?
- Is the Provider Engagement Team engaged?
- Has a fraud report been submitted? To learn how, go to the Fraud Investigations Branch intranet page.
- Have child protection reports been submitted by the support coordinator or provider because the child isn’t being supported by a parent or guardian?
- How often does the parent see the child?
- Who is monitoring the supports being provided?
- Have any participant critical incidents been identified and reported? Go to article Understand participant critical incidents to learn more.
- Who is monitoring and safeguarding the child?
- How are routines being maintained? For example, school attendance or behaviour support plan strategies implemented.
Community and mainstream supports
Participants have access to the same community and mainstream supports as any other child or young person. Families and participants may need help to understand what other service systems can support them, as well as their NDIS funded supports. To learn more, go to Mainstream and community supports - Who is responsible for the supports you need? (external).
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You could also give families information about contacts in their state or territory. To learn more, go to article Community and mainstream supports contact list.
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How to prepare for the plan meeting
The Plan Conversation Support Tool (PCST) can help you record reasonable and necessary decision-making. You must use the PCST for all new plans and plan reassessments and attach to the participant record. To learn more, go to article [Understand and update the plan conversation support tool](#).
If you need advice based on a particular participant’s situation, you can ask for help from the Children and Young People Team.
Think about the way you engage with families. Always be supportive, positive and encouraging when talking with families and participants by listening and acknowledging their concerns. For more information, go to Guide - Conversation style guide.
Treat families with respect and understand that their circumstances may be very difficult, and don’t act in a judgemental or transactional way.
- Capacity Building should always be the primary focus. This includes building the capacity of parents, teachers, support workers and the child or young person.
- Parent and carer training is essential to build capacity for parents to understand and support the disability-related needs of their child in the family home.
- Support Coordination and Specialist Support Coordination is vital. There may be numerous stakeholders and supports required which can be overwhelming for the family. This can add pressure, increasing risk of carer burnout.
Core supports
Core support funding in the child’s plan can include:
- assistance with daily life
- assistance with social and community participation
- access to social and community activities, like transport. Talk with the family about how in-home supports can help, for example to help the child get ready for school. School attendance provides a respite effect and can be important to help a family or carer continue to care for their child. You can also help link the family with after-school activities in the community to give the family and siblings a break.
If the young person is 16 years or older and has independent skills, you can fund daily living supports to help them to live more independently. For example, to support them with self-care, personal care and meal preparation. This will be assistance with daily life supports provided in the family home, not 24/7 core funding supports. You can’t fund SDA for this scenario.
Social and community participation
Consider the age of the child and if they need support to join in social and community activities without their family at times. This can give the family or carer a break if they normally need to provide a lot more care than other parents with children of a similar age. A support worker can be funded so the child can enjoy age-appropriate activities outside their family home, with their peers. This helps the child to build independence while increasing the child’s social participation. For more information, go to Do we expect your family, friends or the community to provide the social and recreation support? (external).
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Maintaining current family support
Parents make a valuable, ongoing contribution to the lives and wellbeing of their children. They support their child to pursue their goals. You must:
- respect the rights and dignity of parents
- promote their inclusion in the planning process
- facilitate access to supports to promote family engagement and capacity building.
Short term accommodation, including respite
Short term accommodation (STA) including respite is funding for a 24-hour period. Whilst this isn’t the main solution, it can provide a break for families and carers. STA, including respite, can be included for up to 28 days a year in the participant’s plan if families and carers need additional support to help them with their caregiving responsibilities. For more information, go to [Do we expect family and informal supports to provide care for you? (external)](Do we expect family and informal supports to provide care for you? (external)).
Specialist children’s use case
The specialist children’s use case is where additional STA, combined with capacity building or other supports, is considered because the child is at risk of entering residential care.
When considering if additional STA meets the NDIS funding criteria, look at including other NDIS support options that could help sustain informal care arrangements. For example, in-home support, behavioural therapies and community access.
For specialist children’s use, you can include up to 30 days at a time, not exceeding 60 days per year. To learn more, go to [Our Guideline – Short Term Accommodation or Respite (external)](Our Guideline – Short Term Accommodation or Respite (external)).
Capacity building supports
Consider the NDIS funding criteria when including disability-related capacity building supports in the child’s plan. To learn more, go to [Our Guideline – Reasonable and necessary supports (external)](Our Guideline – Reasonable and necessary supports (external)).
Capacity building supports help increase the sustainability of the family or carer to continue to care for the child and should be funded alongside any respite. This might include:
- in-home support
- training to help implement a behaviour support plan. For example, supporting the child to develop a sleep routine
- positive behaviour support strategies to address complex and challenging behaviours for parents and other stakeholders
- support for community access to allow the child and family to increase social participation and reduce social isolation. Families at breaking point or experiencing crisis often need significant support to implement their child’s plan. Think about additional capacity building supports which can be vital for successful implementation and support to access services and supports:
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Coordination of support (formerly support coordination)
The role of the support coordinator is to support and strengthen the child’s (family’s) ability to implement and coordinate the disability-related supports, as well as the community and mainstream services, they need in their everyday life.
Coordination of support should be included in all complex planning to support the child and their carer or guardian to implement the plan. To understand more about support coordination and the levels, go to article Understand support coordination and psychosocial recovery coach funding.
Specialist support coordination
To support an early intervention approach, you might fund a specialist support coordinator. They will help the family access and engage with the supports and providers needed to maintain care of their child.
The role of a specialist support coordinator is to help the child:
- manage challenges in their own support environment
- make sure there is consistent delivery of service. This support is time-limited, fixed term and targeted to specific identified areas. This should be clearly communicated if there is an expectation of funding.
It focuses on specific outcomes, such as:
- identifying housing solutions to support a young person transition to adulthood. This includes planning for the transition to independent living (if that’s the child’s goal)
- identifying strategies and solutions for managing risks, such as re-engaging with school. This includes coordinating family, education and stakeholders to develop and implement programs and practices to build relationships linking the child to learning and education. Or training for parents and stakeholders in behaviour support strategies
- identifying and sourcing relevant assessment and associated service design for participants with risk behaviours and behaviours of concern. This includes restrictive practice reporting to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (external)
- participation in any case conferencing arranged by state and territory services if there’s a need to coordinate the participant’s disability-related supports with mainstream services
- engaging with mainstream services
- helping family or parents to access advocacy supports
- capturing and presentation of required data for the NDIA (for example from school). Specialist support coordination should be included in the plan as a stated support. If you identify risks such as limited availability of specialist support coordinators in the area, support in the support coordination category can be used. If it’s likely a child may need accommodation outside their family home soon, specialist support coordination can help use funding to access the disability supports identified. To learn more, go to article Understand support coordination and psychosocial recovery coach funding. Note: Complex planner delegates must develop a robust request for service (RFS) with clear tasks, roles, outcomes and timeframes for both coordination of support and specialist support coordination.
Behaviour support
Some children may need supports to address behaviours of concern. This can be if either one or all of the following apply:
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- there is a risk to self or others
- 1:1 (or higher) funded supports are being used for more than 30% of the day
- if unregulated, restrictive practices are being used.
Behaviour support is vital if there are behaviours of concern. These behaviours might impact the family dynamic to a point that the child is at risk of needing accommodation outside the family home.
You should include strategies to support behaviour and build capacity within the family. This should encourage family engagement for children with high support needs.
In some cases, the behaviours of concern are significant. They could result in the child not being able to spend time with family without high levels of support. Consider if behavioural supports can be included so the child can remain living safely in the family home.
These supports should:
- support the child’s safety and wellbeing
- promote options for increasing the child’s capacity, community and mainstream connections to achieve plan goals
- help the long-term sustainability of the child’s plan and informal support systems
- reduce or eliminate any restrictive practices that might be in place to improve the child’s quality of life. To learn more, go to Core, Capacity Building and Mainstream Interface Supports.
As the child’s capacity increases over time, you would expect to see a reduction in the intensity and level of 1:1 (or higher, for example 2:1) supports (greater than 30%). However, this will depend on individual circumstances.
Consider if including behaviour support alongside other supports, such as STA for a temporary period, meets the NDIS funding criteria. This could allow a family or carer to continue to provide care for the child. Concurrent supports may be a successful early intervention strategy for highly complex situations where the child’s care arrangement is at risk of breakdown. To learn more, go to article Guide – Behaviour support.
5.3.4 Safeguards
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (external) (NDIS Commission) assess behaviour support practitioners and providers using a Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework (external).
This provides guiding principles to help deliver specialist positive behaviour support as an NDIS behaviour support practitioner. In all states and territories, providers who use, or may use, restrictive practices or develop behaviour support plans (BSPs):
- must be registered with the NDIS Commission
- must meet the supplementary requirements of the NDIS Practice Standards. Any use of restrictive practice must comply with the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018 (external).
Where there are behaviours of concern and restrictive practice, the child’s behaviour support specialist and providers of core supports must be NDIS registered. Making parts of the child’s plan Agency-managed is one way of guaranteeing a provider is registered. To learn more, go to article Make fund management decision.
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Building family relationships and capacity
Consider if including disability-related capacity building and training for the child’s parents could support their child to engage with the family. These supports are important to help the family keep caring for their child in the family environment.
Capacity building supports can be included in the plan, so the child remains living in the family home:
- Behaviour support may already be in the plan. It should include development or review of a behaviour support plan, behavioural supports (for example support to establish positive sleep routines) as well as training for family members.
- Assessment, recommendation, therapy or training (including assistive technology). For example, occupational therapy assessment and training to identify equipment, and to train the participant and their family to use the equipment in the family home.
- Community access by providing personal care (including supervision of behaviours of concern) to support the participant to access the community.
- In-home support: where personal care support needs (including for supervision of behaviours of concern) are above the needs of other children of similar age.
Capital supports
Use the information below to guide you through additional considerations for capital supports when the child is living outside the family home.
Home modifications
Consider any home modifications that could help the child remain in their long-term family home. To learn more, go to article Add minor home modification funding.
Transition to adulthood planning
Transition planning is the process of assessment, planning, implementation, and review to identify a young person’s needs as they move into adulthood.
As a young person prepares to leave school and start work or join community activities, they may require additional supports to:
- transition to the disability support pension (DSP)
- transition to independent living. For more information, go to the Children and Young People (CYP) intranet page.
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Document 6
Request:
- I am seeking information on how many families have multiple members as participants on the scheme.
- How many have 2 children on the scheme.
- How many have 3+ children on the scheme.
- I would like information on how many parents of children on the scheme are also participants themselves.
- I would like information on how many of these families claim for STA / respite, and equine therapy for participants.
- I am seeking information on how many participants have claimed STA / respite in the form of holidays.
- Could you please provide information on why the STA was categorised as more of a holiday rather than STA or respite?
| How many have 2 children on the scheme. | 40627 |
|---|---|
| How many have 3+ children on the scheme. | 7409 |
| I would like information on how many parents of children on the scheme are also participants themselves. | 11327 |
| I would like information on how many of these families claim for STA / respite, and equine therapy for participants. | 8 |
| I am seeking information on how many participants have claimed STA / respite in the form of holidays. | 8 |
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