Albill

albill

alwsempl@bigpond.net.au

Family member of a person with disability

As very concerned and involved parents we are happy to discuss the concepts as suggested in this submission. We are aware that some of our ideas are different; we need practical solutions to issues that continually arise for families acting as advocates for family members with impaired communication and decision making capacity: the frustration, time and emotional impost on families serves to complicate and confuse our role; ultimately this can lead to relinquishing the role, reluctantly, which serves to increase the vulnerability of those who are already very vulnerable.

The system as legislated in Queensland is a role model for the rest of the nation; it seeks to have all persons make their own decisions; where support is needed this support is provided by Informal Substitute Decision Makers; only as a last resort where the informal system fails is formal guardianship/administration required. This system works well at a local level but is thwarted by national corporate organizations. Therefore advocacy is required to change processes so this system of Informal Substitute Decision Making can function as intended.