ARC Family Support Program
To facilitate the empowerment of families with children with disabilities, who have complex needs, to identify, plan, obtain and coordinate the support and resources they require to maintain and strengthen the family's ability to care for their child at home and to participate within their local community.
Target Group
This service provides support to families living in the Cairns area, who have children (0-18) with disabilities (as defined under the Queensland Disability Services Act, 1992), where the family has complex needs and requires a range of supports to care for the child at home as identified and funded by DSQ. The family may demonstrate a high level of stress and / or need that may be obvious through family conflict, social isolation or in other ways.
Aims
- Provide flexible, responsive support to families where a family has complex needs.
- Assist families to identify their current and future needs and become empowered to make decisions about the support that best suits them.
- Provide support in a way that strengthens the family's ability to care for their child at home and to participate in the community.
- Help build formal and informal supports around families that meet the needs and priorities of family members and increase the capacity of families to maintain the care for their child.
Funding Source
Disability Services Queensland
Service Details
FSP is based on a facilitator working with families, who has access to discretionary funds. This model will provide a planning and coordination mechanism for families and the resources necessary to enable support to be tailored to meet individual needs. Service planning and coordination, which includes facilitation of community networks and linking with resources, is an essential component of the service model to support families.
The facilitator provides information and options that may assist the family to identify the particular needs of their child and family, to access any required further information and work collaboratively and in partnership with the family to develop a plan for flexible, family focused support options. The family may sample a range of creative support options in order to achieve the "best fit" between identified need and supports provided. To ensure that services are responsive to the needs of the child and family, the facilitator assists the family to regularly review and adjust the combination of supports and services as needs change.
