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hunter circles
Submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability
31 December, 2022
What would you like to share with the Royal Commission about your experiences or knowledge of violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation of people with disability?
Across Australia, there are thousands of people who receive extremely well funded NDIS packages who remain profoundly lonely, isolated, shut out of mainstream society and highly vulnerable to abuse and harm. There are thousands of people who live in group homes who have no friends, no family, no-one who knows them well, no-one to advocate for them who are excluded from decision making and who rely solely on paid supports for their well-being.
“We fear that if people living with disability do not receive support to build their connections and social capital, we will have a Scheme where people living with disability are well supported in their loneliness and at great risk of violence, abuse, neglect and other forms of maltreatment.”
Safeguarding people living with disability, JFA Purple Orange, February 2021
The inquiry into the tragic death of Ms Ann Marie Smith confirmed the urgent need for solutions that build natural safeguards within a person’s life. The more ‘noticing’, the more eyes and ears on a person, the more contact they have with the community, the more opportunities for building social connections and community participation, the safer people will be.
The Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
2021 identified that there is a critical necessity to strengthen natural supports as a developmental measure and notes “Natural supports (family, friends and community connections) provide an important informal safeguard for people with disability’.
Circles of Support are a powerful way to safeguard people against violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Circles of Support are based on the premise that it is relationships that keep people safe and give life meaning. Circles support people to connect with family, friends and other people from the community.
Whilst each Circle is unique, their commonality comes from their fundamental purpose to safeguard the person through relationships with other people who want to play a role in their life. Each Circle is co-designed with the person at the centre, deeply listening and remaining accountable to each individual and their right to autonomy and self determination.
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“The idea of a Circle is both simple and ancient. It’s a group of people who come together regularly with a common purpose, who think and talk together, then agree and take actions that will further that purpose. It’s based on humanity and human relationships, and a way that a group of people working together can harness their resources towards a common end.”
Helen Sanderson, 2012
Hunter Circles is part of a national collective of organisations delivering Circle of Support facilitation, the National Resource Centre for Circles of Support and Microboards. A Circle of Support is “a voluntary group of people committed to assisting a person with disability to achieve their goals and safeguard their interests into the future (A Guide To Circles of Support, Belonging Matters 2021). Circle facilitators are trained in person centred thinking and planning and asset based community development. Facilitators are held within a supervision model similar to psychology and social work - the values base that drives supervision is founded in human rights, inclusion, person centred approaches and relational research and practice - with a focus on coaching, mentoring and a community of practice. This builds the capacity of facilitators and communities to support each other with intention, building safeguards together that are personalised to each individual.
“Circles of Support harness the goodwill, knowledge and connections of community members rather than viewing the person as a service recipient. “
Jayne Barrett, 2008
Circles of Support have been running all over the world since the 1980s. The purpose of a Circle is to support a person to have a good life, bringing people together to think and plan in a way that also builds the capacity of our community to be inclusive. Independent research has found that Circles of Support are effective in increasing community connections, achieving life goals and reducing reliance on paid supports.
There are hundreds of examples nationally and internationally that demonstrate the positive impacts of Circles of Support. To that end, we invite you to meet Rob - a man with ideas, ambition, love and humour. Rob lived in institutions for over 50 years. Now Rob is living his own life in his own home. A life filled with love and connection - where Rob makes his own decisions about everything. Rob is assisted by his Circle of Support - family and friends who gather together around him and support his decisions to live the life he has always wanted.
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Australia has failed to safeguard people with disability from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Our current reliance on formal safeguards has produced perverse outcomes. Far too little attention has been paid to the things that enhance a person’s chances of forming and maintaining friendships. Supporting people to live free from abuse and harm is ultimately dependant on our ability to help people develop and maintain meaningful, positive, freely given relationships with people in their local community. Circles of Support are a powerful way to support people to do just this.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us?
Across Australia, thousands of people have been completely left behind when it comes to exercising the choice and control that the NDIS promised. Article 12 of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that a person’s right to autonomy is universal. That we all have this right. Yet far too many people with intellectual disability and complex communication support needs are being denied this fundamental human right. Far too many people are unable to choose what they eat, what they wear, where they live, who they live with, who they have a relationship with. Far too many people are excluded from efforts to enhance self-determination. As Dr Jo Watson says, “We have to try, because if we don’t people with intellectual disability will continue to be denied their human right to autonomy. A right that cuts to the heart of our humanity.” (Dr Jo Watson, 2016 In this talk, Jo challenges assumptions that people with severe or profound cognitive disability are unable to lead self-determined lives. She provides guidance to signatory nations in their efforts to uphold their obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to ensure everyone is able to lead lives of their preference, including those rarely heard. Dr Jo Watson is a Lecturer, Researcher and Speech Pathologist, specialising in Disability and Inclusion at Deakin University in Australia.)
Since 2015, Dr Jo Watson and her colleagues have produced, and are continuing to develop, a body of research focused on best practice in providing supported decision making for people with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disability (PIMD ) (Pepin et al., 2013; Quinn et al.,2018; Watson, 2016; Watson, 2019; Watson et al., 2017). Watson and colleagues characterise supported decision making for this population as: A process of enhancing the decision-making capacity of a person with PIMD through collaborative support from a group of people in that person’s life. A person’s circle of support, comprising a group of key people in the person’s life, who have a good understanding of the person’s life history, preferences, and personal characteristics, is an important ingredient in this process. Within this context, autonomy for a person with PIMD is viewed as a relational construct, best realized in collaboration with those in the person’s life who know him or her well. (Watson et al., 2019 p.5)
NDIS Support for Decision Making Consultation
Submission from Deakin University, September 2021
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The research shows that for people with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disability (PIMD), relational closeness is key to people achieving increased autonomy and that Circles of Support assist people to build relational autonomy
- which should form the basis of supported decision making. Circles of Support offer a more contemporary approach to decision making that is relationship based and act as a powerful safeguard to support people to live autonomous lives.
Are there any suggestions or recommendations you would like to share, including any examples of what worked well, or ideas for how things could be done better? You might also like to tell us about any people that have supported you.
Circles of Support are a capacity building safeguard that support people to build connections beyond paid supports. Circles provide support for a person to understand and make decisions about their lives and services. Circles act as a safeguard that uphold people’s right to high quality and safe supports. Circles ensure there are a number of people who know the person with disability well enough to recognise and prevent abuse and harm.
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Make Circles of Support a default option available to all NDIS participants. NDIA must take responsibility for funding capacity building safeguards either into a person’s plan or through ILC funding to reduce the risks of abuse, harm, isolation and loneliness for people with disability in this country. Make this a priority for people with no informal networks and people using a single service provider.
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Introduce a formal process to assess people’s support networks and map people’s relationships - note how many people there are in a person’s life who are not paid to be there and the role they have. For people who are highly excluded and isolated, build in Circles of Support as a key strategy.
In a few sentences, what would you like to tell our nation about your hopes for the future?
At Hunter Circles, we believe that everyone deserves a friend. Everyone should have someone in their lives who isn’t paid to be there. We also believe that building connections with people who have no unpaid supports in their life is one of the most profound ways that we can be part of making community change.
We want Circles of Support to be available to anyone who needs one. We believe that Circles of Support are an effective way for people to harness the power of their NDIS funding to achieve their goals in ways that are unique and meaningful to each person.
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