When deciding what supports we may fund we also think about your informal supports. Informal supports are your family, friends, and community networks who support you. We consider if they’re able to continue to support you in the long term.
We’ll also think about if we might fund other things that can help support your carers. We may fund Short Term Accommodation with other supports that provide a respite effect, and help your carers keep supporting you in the long term. This may include:
- support to access the community
- in home care and support
- capacity building supports.
We’ll consider the risk to you and your family’s wellbeing if they continue to support you (without Short Term Accommodation). We also look at how the support provided by your family and networks affects your independence. We compare this to the independence and opportunities Short Term Accommodation may provide.
We’ll also consider the role and responsibility of parents in caring for children.
What about Short Term Accommodation for children?
We may fund Short Term Accommodation for children if it meets the NDIS funding criteria. It depends on the child’s needs and their family, or carers.
We’ll consider the whole family situation. We’ll also talk to parents and children about other funded supports that may also be available to help.
We might fund Short Term Accommodation for children who need much more support than other children their age. For example, parents usually help young children with toileting, but we don’t expect this for a teenager or adult without a disability.
We can provide funding for other supports as well as Short Term Accommodation. This may help families to:
- support a child in the long term
- maintain your family situation.
Other supports might include:
- support in your home
- training to carry out a behaviour support plan or build capacity in other areas. For example, this might help parents support their child in creating a sleep routine
- community access to help you socialise and interact with your community
- help to supervise behaviours of concern or support positive behaviour strategies.
What about supports for children at risk of needing accommodation outside the family home?
We may fund more than 28 days per year if children are at risk of going to residential care. We won’t fund more than 30 days at a time or more than 60 days per year.
But first we’ll look at what mix of supports might help a child and family to stay together. For example, this may include:
- Short Term Accommodation including respite
- personal care in your home
- supports to access the community
- supports to help manage behaviours of concern
- home modifications in your family home.
You may be able to get help from the child protection service in your state as well as the support through us. The supports may be different depending on the state or territory you live in.