Advocacy support for people living in DHHS houses

Since 1992, VALID has been the main organisation providing advocacy support to Victorians with intellectual disability, and particularly to people living in group homes. Recently, the Victorian government provided additional funding for us to support hundreds of DHHS residents who are going through the transition to NDIS and the transfer of services to non-government agencies.

VALID is providing support for decision-making and advocacy support to hundreds of residents in their first NDIS planning meeting. We are mainly directing our support to people who:

• Don’t have actively involved family members, and/or
• Need support for decision making and/or advocacy support

The Process

DHHS has provided VALID with a list of residents who were identified by Divisional staff as needing an advocate at their NDIS planning meeting. VALID sends a letter out to the resident’s home to explain the process. VALID asks House Supervisors to fill in a detailed pre-planning template that gives an advocate a snapshot of the person’s interests, support needs, services, and their goals for the next 12 months.

VALID then meets the resident and their support staff, and attends the NDIS planning meeting at an agreed time. In the NDIS planning meeting, the VALID advocate supports the resident to speak up about their needs and goals, and will explain NDIS concepts in plain language throughout the process. VALID will also advocate on the person’s behalf in the meeting if they are unable to, and will choose the organisation who will provide their Support Coordination service.

In general, VALID is only involved for the NDIS planning meeting. However, if there are problems after the NDIS planning meeting, VALID will provide advocacy support to the person as part of our usual advocacy service.

VALID can also provide advocacy support for people living in DHHS group homes who do have family involved but have a complex problem that an advocate might be able to assist with.

You can contact VALID for advocacy support on 03 9416 4003 or email [email protected]