The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) commenced rolling out in Year 1 Districts on 1 July 2016 and Year 2 Districts will transition to the NDIS on 1 July this year. From 1 July 2018, all eligible people living in NSW will be able to access the Scheme.
Guidelines are now available outlining interface with the NDIS for FACS and NGO staff across Early Intervention, Child Protection and Out of Home Care (OOHC).
The seven Guidelines span the NDIS access, planning and review process outlining your role and responsibilities and where you can get further information across:
1. Overview of the NDIS
2. NDIS Eligibility and Access
3. NDIS Plan Preparation & Plan Process
4. Develop the NDIS Plan & Plan Management Options
5. Choosing & Managing Service Providers
6. Monitoring & Reviewing NDIS Plans
7. Appeals & Reviews of NDIS Decisions.
Given the dynamic nature of the current disability policy environment, these Guidelines will be regularly updated to reflect a changing NDIS model as the Scheme is implemented. FaCS will continue to update them as information evolves and outcomes of agreements between the Commonwealth and the NSW Government are solidified. As the Guidelines are subject to regular update, they are best viewed at https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/ndis rather than printing or saving a version to your local drive, to ensure you are accessing the most up to date version.
Much of the information provided relates to case work of clients in the Out Of Home Care system. However, it is foreseeable that early intervention services who provide case work may support clients leaving care, or intersect with them at different times. As such, the major points from the guidelines are:
- Consideration of disability or developmental delay should be embedded into your casework practice and everyday engagement with children, young people and carers.
- The NDIS Act assumes that children and young people under 18 years are generally unable to make decisions for themselves and will be represented by the person or agency with Parental Responsibility (known as the Child’s Representative) to act in the best interests of the child.
- For children and young people under Parental Responsibility of the Minister, FACS OOHC casework staff will be the Child’s Representative when case management responsibility is held by FACS. Where case management has been transferred to an NGO, NGO OOHC casework staff will be the Child’s Representative.
- The Child’s Representative has a number of responsibilities and tasks throughout the NDIS access, pre-planning, planning and monitoring and review process which are described in the Guidelines.
- The young person should be an active participant in all discussions and decisions relating to the NDIS. Casework staff are responsible for ensuring the child or young person and carer are involved at all stages of the NDIS planning lifecycle.
- OOHC casework staff remain responsible for leaving care planning until the young person turns 18 and exits the care of the Minister. To prepare for this Leaving Care planning should commence at 15.
- For care leavers, to ensure the young person’s disability support is targeting this transition, make sure the young person’s goals and aspirations in their NDIS plan focus on transitioning to independence.
If you have any further questions about what the NDIS will mean for Early Intervention, Child Protection and OOHC, please contact the Safe Home for Life inbox at [email protected].