Individual Support Packages
/ Link toguidelines: / Chapter 2
Chapter 6
Chapter 8 / Getting started
Implementing a funding plan
Reviewing supports
/ For attention of: / Facilitators
Departmental workers
/ Date of issue: / September 2015 / Issue No: / 1 / No of pages: / 4
Purpose
Individual support packages play a critical role in helping to achieve positive outcomes for children with a
disability, including maintaining family relationships and supporting carers in their caring role. Best practice in planning should use a holistic approach to the family unit and promote the delivery of flexible support packages that:
•build protective factors for families
•use external resources, such as services, that build family resilience in the short and longer term
•understand and respond to the complexities of an individual family’s circumstances and
•address the risk factors that impact on a family’s capacity to continue to provide care.
This practice guide has been developed to assist workers with more effective planning to support children and their families and, to promote the role of individualised support packages in enhancing the capacity of families to provide care and reduce vulnerability for potential breakdown.
Family-centred practice
Planning with families and children should adopt a family centred-approach. Family-centred principles aim to ensure the best interests of the child remain at the centre of funding and support plans.
Family-centred practice is a set of values, skills, behaviours and knowledge that recognises the centrality of families in the lives of children and young people[i]. The practice is grounded in respect for the uniqueness of every person and family, and demonstrates a commitment to partnering with families and communities to support children and young people with a disability to learn, grow and thrive.
These practices put the family’s individual strengths, needs and choices at the centre of service planning, development, implementation and evaluation. This approach ensures that supports are tailored to the family’s needs such as the family’s day-to-day routine.
When working with older children and adolescents a combination of family-centred and self-directed principles can be blended to best suit their needs and goals.
/ For more information / More information about family-centred practice is available here:Considerations for best practice planning
Understanding protective and risk factors for families
Understanding the risk and protective factors that enhance family capacity to provide care for children with a disability is important for effective planning for vulnerable families. It is beneficial for all staff working with families to have a broad, general understanding of the factors that may place families at risk of breakdown, the factors that can protect them and the ways in which these risk and protective factors tend to interact.
Effective planning for vulnerable families should use a holistic approach to the family unit and focus on opportunities to reduce modifiable risk factors and promote protective factors. By building on family strengths, families are better placed to cope with stress, which in turn can lead to a reduced incidence of family breakdown. Promoting protective factors may also help workers to build more positive relationships with families. As risk and protective factors are interrelated in families, effective planning also aims to address multiple risk and protective factors, rather than focus on a single factor.
It is essential to keep in mind that while certain risk factors may exist among families where family breakdown occurs, this does not mean that the presence of these factors necessarily leads to family breakdown.
Risk factors for family breakdown generally refer to measureable characteristics of an individual that heightens the probability of a worse outcome in the future. When combined with limited protective factors, they increase the probability of families experiencing breakdown.
Both Australian and international research has identified a number of risk factors that can contribute to family breakdown. See key factors in Table 1. The application for ongoing disability supports will identify some of the risks relevant to an individual family that should be considered through the planning process. An individual plan should demonstrate how these risks are being addressed and/or make appropriate referral to services that may assist.
Table 1: Risk factors
Ecological level / Risk factorIndividual child factors / •high support needs as a result of challenging behaviour
•behaviours of concern
•high levels of dependence
•very high medical needs
•multiple and/or severe functional limitations
•limited communication
•approaching young adult age.
Family/ parental factors / •high emotional strain/ distress and physical exhaustion
•coping styles and perceived self- efficacy of parents
•single parent
•divorce/ separation
•ageing, ill health of carer
•inadequate housing
•financial costs/ lower income.
Social/ environment factors / •difficulty navigating service system
•lack of informal supports
•social isolation
•unemployment
•lack of respite and/or emergency access to respite care
•workforce capacity issues including skills gaps.
Protective factors enhance family resilience and may reflect preventive or ameliorative influences. These factors are a positive moderator of risk or adversity. They serve as safeguards, which can help parents find resources or supports, and can encourage coping strategies that allow them to parent effectively, even under difficult circumstances.
Research has identified a number of protective factors associated with a family’s capacity to provide care, provided at Table 2. Protective factors can strengthen all families and should be an essential component of planning. An individual plan should consider how these protective factors are being addressed.
Table 2: protective factors
Ecological level / Protective factorIndividual child factors / •strong positive social networks
•participation in the community
•early intervention
•independence, communication and functional skills.
Family/ parental factors / •parental coping skills
•supportive family environment
•positive behaviour supports
•problem solving skills
•interpersonal skills/ relationships within the family
•peer support
•needs of all family members are recognised (including siblings needs)
•emotional support (building individual beliefs and attitudes and a strong cultural identity can promote resilience).
Social/ environment factors / •access to holistic, flexible, accessible, and high quality service provision by providers
•access to respite
•access to emergency support to manage unplanned situations
•predictable and stable routines
•referrals to services that can meet additional needs of the family or areas of family stress (e.g. financial counselling)
•formal and informal social support.
Creative examples of effective planning
Individual support packages enable flexibility for workers and families to plan creatively together to identify supports that meet the family’s needs and preferences. Supports should integrate specialist and mainstream service provision. Examples of support options available that promote protective factors are presented at Table 3 (this list is not intended to be exhaustive).
Table 3: Examples of support options
Type / DefinitionRespite / Planned short term, time limited breaks for families of children with a disability. Services provide positive and meaningful experiences for the person with a disability at the same time as giving the carer a break from their usual care-giving role.
Information support / Families gather or receive information that allows better understanding of the child with a disability (e.g. information relevant to the diagnosis, the child’s capacities, services offered and available resources).
Assistance and support with decision making / Aims to provide tools, advice and family guidance to make decisions that concern the child with a disability or the family.
Legal support / Legal information for the family to facilitate the understanding of their rights.
Psychosocial support / Aims to reduce tensions and maintain or restore family harmony.
Assistance with daily living activities / Includes assistance, support or practical measures that facilitate everyday tasks. It can include siblings’ supervision to allow parents to focus on the children with a disability, help with household chores or physical assistance to meet the needs of the child with a disability.
Leisure, sports and social activities / Aims to support families in their efforts to promote the integration of the child and/or family in social activities or leisure. May include activities for the child with a disability or organisation of activities for the whole family.
Emergency support / To manage unplanned or crisis situations that may occur.
It is recognised that a number of other supports may be required for families including financial support, transportation, education etc. For supports that fall outside of the ISP guidelines, consideration should be given to referral to alternative services that can work with the family’s needs as identified.
Case examples of support tailored to strengthen and build the capacity of families to continue to care for their child:
•Community respite for three hours after school to enable a parent to be able to maintain work and/or study commitments.
•Intensive behaviour support training to support parents to be able to implement a routine at home that addresses the length of time it takes to dress their child in the morning due to the child’s level of distress.
•A comprehensive multi-disciplinary review in order to assist in developing a plan to address behaviours of concern and identify the supports that can be purchased.
•Supports such as a school holiday program and therapy (e.g. occupational therapy) partnered with respite to enhance family resilience, develop skills and reduce feelings of isolation fora single parent living ina remote area.
•Regular access to respite and parental education to assist a family to plan for the future and counter risks.
Further information
More information about family-centred practice, including a comprehensive suite of materials developed in collaboration with the Department of Education can be found via this link:
To receive this publication in an accessible formatemail:Authorised and published by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne.
© State of Victoria, Department of Health and Human Services September 2015
Practice Advice 16: Effective planning to best support children and their families1