Practice Guide – Children living in
a formal voluntary arrangement outside their family home
IMPORTANT: For use by children and young people planners in the Complex Support Needs Pathway only.
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Contents
Practice Guide – Children living in a formal voluntary arrangement outside their family home
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Purpose ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
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To be used by ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
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Scope ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
3.1 Voluntary out of home care arrangements ……………………………………………………… 4 3.2 Early childhood participants (under seven years of age) ………………………………….. 5 3.3 Crisis situations …………………………………………………………………………………………. 5 3.4 Parenting Agreements ………………………………………………………………………………… 7
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Pre-planning ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7
4.1 Verifying identity and recording consent ………………………………………………………… 7 4.2 Pre-planning checklist …………………………………………………………………………………. 8 4.3 The planning conversation …………………………………………………………………………… 8 4.4 Participant goals ………………………………………………………………………………………. 10 4.5 Streaming ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10 4.6 Plan duration …………………………………………………………………………………………… 10 4.7 Child Representatives ……………………………………………………………………………….. 10 4.8 Family Outcomes Questionnaire ………………………………………………………………… 11
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Planning …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
5.1 Property damage ……………………………………………………………………………………… 12 5.2 Core supports ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13 5.3 Capacity Building supports ………………………………………………………………………… 15 5.4 Capital supports ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 17
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Transition planning for 16 – 17 year olds ………………………………………………………… 18
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Plan management ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 19
7.1 Self-managed or plan-managed …………………………………………………………………. 20
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Plan implementation ……………………………………………………………………………………. 20
8.1 Handover to specialist support coordinator and/or coordinator of supports ……….. 21
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DISCLOSURE LOG
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- Plan monitoring………………………………………………………………………………………… 21
- Reunification supports …………………………………………………………………………………. 22
- Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 24
- Appendix A: Transition to Adulthood Checklist …………………………………………… 24
- Supporting material ……………………………………………………………………………………… 32
- Feedback …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 32
- Version change control ………………………………………………………………………………… 32
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1. Purpose
The content of this document is OFFICIAL. This Practice Guide (PG) will support you as a children and young people’s planner in the Complex Supports Needs (CSN) Pathway through the considerations and sensitivities when planning (first plan or review) for a child participant (child) living outside the family home in voluntary out of home care arrangements as acknowledged by the relevant state or territory authority and the National Disability Insurance Agency (Agency). For the purpose of this PG we will hereafter refer to these as voluntary arrangements.
Children who currently reside outside the family home either in full time or part time voluntary arrangements will be acknowledged by the relevant state and territory authority who will lead oversight of these arrangements.
NOTE: Under this arrangement parents or primary care givers continue to be responsible for all decision making relating to their child.
This PG is not a standalone document and should be used in conjunction with the following planning resources:
- Practice Guide – Participants Streamed as Intensive or Super Intensive
- Our Guideline – Child Representatives
- Our Guideline – Reasonable and Necessary Supports
- Standard Operating Procedure – Complete the Determine Funded Supports task.
2. To be used by
Planners in the CSN Children and Young people Pathway who are trained to support children and young people and prepare plans where additional skills, knowledge or considerations are required.
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Planning
Include reasonable and necessary disability-related supports in the child’s plan as guided in the Our Guideline – Reasonable and Necessary Supports.
The guidance below will guide you through the additional considerations for funded supports when the child is living outside the family home.
For children formally agreed as living in a voluntary arrangement outside the family home, the NDIS will be responsible for funding:
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Children with disability living outside the family home
• 24/7 staffing (except during hours when the child is attending school)
• disability-related supports
• assessment for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) and Supported Independent Living (SIL) eligibility from the age of 16
• specialist support coordination.
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5.3 Capacity Building supports
Include reasonable and necessary disability-related capacity building funded supports in the child’s plan as guided in the Our Guideline – Reasonable and Necessary Supports.
The information below will guide you through the additional considerations for capacity building supports when the child is living outside the family home.
Support Coordination
Children living in a voluntary arrangement could have coordination of supports, specialist support coordination or a combination of the two included in their plan.
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A participant may have specialist support coordination as well as coordination of supports funded in the same plan. This could be in situations such as where immediate complex barriers have been addressed and the participant still requires more general coordination of supports for the remainder of their plan period. Others may have specialist support coordination in one plan, and coordination of supports in subsequent plans.
Coordination of supports
The role of the support coordinator is to assist with and strengthen the child’s (family’s) ability to implement and coordinate the supports they require in their everyday life relating to their disability. These supports include informal, mainstream and community supports as well as their NDIS funded supports. It aims to support the child to participate more fully in the community.
Specialist support coordination
The role of a specialist support coordinator is to assist the child to manage challenges in their own support environment and ensure consistent delivery of service. This support is time limited, focusing on specific outcomes such as:
- identifying housing solutions to support a young person to transition to adulthood
- assisting a participant to manage challenges in their own support environment and ensure consistent delivery of service
- capturing any required data for the Agency
- Identifying strategies and solutions for managing risks such as school expulsion or non-attendance over extended periods. This includes the coordination of bringing family, education and stakeholders together to develop and implement programs and practices to build relationships that link to the child’s learning/education.
- Identifying and sourcing relevant assessment and associated service design for participants with behaviours of concern (inclusive of unauthorised restrictive practice reporting to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission).
- Reporting on Parenting Agreements/engagement. This includes monitoring to ensure parents are included and actively participating in their child’s daily life (school visits, medical appointments, sibling contact).
Include specialist support coordination in the plan as a stated support unless there are identified risks such as limited availability of specialist support coordinators in the area.
Parent/s maintain their guardianship role by fulfilling responsibilities including for example, acting as their child’s key decision maker, ensuring ongoing family and community connections and advocating for their child’s best interests. Refer to Standard Operating Procedure – Include Support Coordination in a Plan for further information.
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Behavioural intervention support
Some children may require supports to address behaviours of concern (risk to self or others and/or 1:1 [or higher] funded supports that are greater than 30% of the day). Behaviour intervention and support is a vital inclusion if there are behaviours of concern that have impacted on the family dynamic and have resulted in the child not being able to live in the family home.
To build capacity within the family and encourage family engagement, the inclusion of strategies to support behaviour intervention is key for children residing outside the family home. In some cases the behaviours of concern are significant and have resulted in the child not being able to spend time with family without high levels of support. Consideration needs to be factored in planning to ensure that behavioural supports are included to the level that the child can maintain contact with their family on a regular basis.
These supports are recommended to:
- support the child’s safety and wellbeing
- promote options for increasing the child’s capacity, community and mainstream connections to achieve plan goals
- ensure long term sustainability of the child’s plan and informal support systems.
As a child’s capacity increases overtime, you would expect to see a reduction in the intensity and level of 1:1 (or higher e.g. 2:1) supports (greater than 30%) however, this will depend on the individual circumstances.
Refer to Standard Operating Procedure – Behaviour Intervention Supports.
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Transition planning for 16 – 17 year olds
As a young person prepares to leave school and move to employment or day time community activities, additional supports may be required to support them with their transition from education. For children living in a voluntary agreement outside the family home this transition also involves:
- transitioning out of their voluntary living arrangement into an alternative living arrangement
- transitioning to the disability support pension (DSP) and contributing to their board and lodging costs.
Consider the following when planning for 16 -17 year olds living in accommodation outside the family home:
- Complete the Transition to Adulthood Checklist.
- Establish if an independent specialist assessment will be required if there is unclear or insufficient evidence about the young person’s functional capacity or current and future support need requirements.
- Determine the capacity building supports that will develop independent living skills.
- Assess assistive technology and home modification needs in relation to any changes in the young person’s living arrangement.
This can be funded in a young person’s plan and would be conducted by a qualified assessor such as an occupational therapist, registered nurse or psychologist who is independent to the current provider’s process. It would be anticipated that specific
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questions would be forwarded to the assessor, with this process being led by the support coordinator.
• Will additional specialist support coordination hours be required to support the young person to plan for appropriate accommodation if a different living arrangement is required? Refer to Practice Guide – Identifying Housing Solutions for further information.
• Include an assessment for SDA and SIL in the young person’s plan noting that in most cases this is not the best option for children under 18. Only in exceptional circumstances should this be included for children 15 and under and will require General Manager approval.
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Plan implementation
After plan approval, the approved plan and plan approval letter are automatically sent to all child representatives. It is important that the contact roles are updated if the child’s circumstances change and correct addresses are recorded to ensure the right people receive a copy of the child’s plan.
Refer to Standard Operating Procedure – Complete the Implement the Plan task and Our Guideline – Your Plan.
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8.1 Handover to specialist support coordinator and/or coordinator of supports
When sending your Request for Service form to the specialist support coordinator and/or coordinator of supports chosen by the parents/child representative/s, make sure you include your contact details and request the specialist support coordinator and/or coordinator of supports contacts you to arrange a handover.
The process for referral will depend on whether the provider is registered or unregistered. All specialist support coordinators will be registered, however some coordination of supports providers may be unregistered.
For registered providers, refer to Standard Operating Procedure – Make a Request for Service (support coordination and recovery coach) and for unregistered provider refer to Form Request for Service – Non-registered Support Coordination Providers.
Arrange a face to face (where possible) handover to the specialist support coordinator and/or coordinator of supports with the parents/child representative present. Make sure you cover:
- how the plan was developed
- who they need to liaise with to implement the plan and the responsibilities of all parties
- how the plan can be used flexibly to meet the child’s goals and how to monitor plan utilisation and make sure the plan can be fully utilised for the period of the plan
- the roles of the specialist support coordinator and the coordinator of supports
- arrange regular checkpoints, in advance, to track progress and to make sure the plan is being implemented in line with the child’s goals. This will provide opportunity to address any concerns the family or coordinators may have but will also promote effective plan utilisation.
8.2 Plan monitoring
The support coordinator will work with the child representative to monitor plan usage, resolve any issues that arise, and liaise with providers, other government services and the Agency as required.
Advise the support coordinator to notify you of any issues regarding utilisation of plan funds. This will allow you to be fully prepared for any implementation meetings with states and territories.
At the 12 week check in meeting you will be able to monitor the plan usage and talk through any concerns with the child representative/s and the support coordinator.
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If you identify an over-utilisation of funding which may put the child at risk of running out of funding in one or more areas of their plan, work with the child representative/s and support coordinator to identify why there is an over-utilisation. Arrange regular check-ins as required.
Critical incidents and safeguarding
If you are advised of risks of abuse/neglect related to a child you are expected to take action. Evidence of risks of abuse/neglect may in some circumstances be considered a participant critical incident. Action taken must be consistent with the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (which limits the circumstances in which the NDIA can disclose information) and agreed working arrangements with states and territories.
Discuss your concerns with your manager and agree on the appropriate action to take. Record the details of the crisis circumstances and actions taken in an interaction and add an alert if required. Ensure the specialist support coordinator and/or support coordinator is aware of the situation and is also responding to support the child.
Refer to the Participant Critical Incident Framework for further information on the actions you should take and how to report a participant incident. If you are unsure about making the notification, contact the National Participant Incident Team.
Change of circumstances
Where there is a significant change in circumstances which means the child may require additional funding based on their disability-related support needs, the specialist support coordinator and/or support coordinator is expected to support the child representative to request a plan review. The Agency may commence an Agency initiated plan review where there are concerns, for example, about plan utilisation or other matters concerning the child’s disability support needs.
A change of circumstances plan review may be requested where for example, there has been a change of residential setting or accommodation provider, an extended hospital stay or significant or repeated school suspension. A child entering accommodation outside of their family home, may also instigate a change of circumstance review.
Refer to Standard Operating Procedure - Create a Plan Review Request (PRR).
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