Mission Statement

To build and maintain the capacity and resilience of families and carers who support people with a disability, through partnerships between families, carers and professionals using a whole of life approach.

News

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About the Families in Partnership Co-operative.


Advocacy.

The Co-operative seeks to empower families to self advocate for the needs and resources that their family requires to lead a quality lifestyle.

The Co-operative can provide information on how and where to advocate and provide support during the advocacy process. Check out our Fact Sheet on Advocacy Services available to families and people who have a disability.

Our Coordinator can be contacted to act as a support advocate for families and carers in meetings with schools and local service providers. He can assist you prepare for these meetings and help you understand your rights and responsibilities.

The Co-operative seeks avenues to inform governments and services on the expressed needs of families and people who have a disability and uses the local media to make the community aware of disability issues and the positive contribution people who have a disability and their families make to their community.

The Co-operative recently advocated for changes to the Draft Policies put out by DADHC on Supported Accommodation and Respite to ensure family and carer rights were included and recognised.

Information and Resources.

Through linkages formed with all local services and many general community agencies and groups, families can contact the Co-operative to seek the information they require or be quickly directed to the most appropriate place to find it.

MDS Ltd has an Information and Referral Service and can be contacted on 1800 683 232 or on their web site www.mdservices.com.au. Check out our Links page for web sites of many services and government agencies.

The Co-operative has developed a number of key Fact Sheets on a variety of issues, including one on the recent Commonwealth initiative Helping Children with Autism.

Regular Newsletters and email alerts are sent to Co-operative members to keep them informed and aware of issues and services as they come to hand.

Creating Linkages.

As our name says, we are about working in partnerships with others to achieve results for people who have a disability and their families and carers. Co-operative members are active participants in a number of local and regional forums and networks to advocate improvements to services. These include:

Training and Education.

The Co-operative supports carers and families to attend presentations by various guest speakers, conferences and seminars and training courses conducted by services. If members or families are aware of such an opportunity they can contact the Coordinator to see how the Co-operative can help them attend.

The Co-operative will continue to run its popular Advocacy Workshops for families and Carers and in partnership with Early Childhood Intervention services workshops on Visual Communication. These workshops will be promoted through the website and the local media in Macarthur.

Membership of the Co-operative will ensure families and carers get advance notice of all training and education opportunities.

Education of services and the general community is equally important with in-services training supported through involvement in local Networks, presentations at TAFE and University, and facilitating discussion of family and disability issues by general community services.

Creating Opportunities.

The Co-operative is very active in the area of Autism and currently facilitates the Aspergers Syndrome Support Group for Families in Macarthur with over 130 families and 25 professionals involved. It is working with other families who have children with autism in developing support network and access to information.

Strong links have been formed with a number of Support Groups dealing with a range of disabilities to enable families and carers to share knowledge and build resilience.

Through the development of support groups, the Co-operative creates opportunities for families to make contact with other families and share experiences. The Co-operative also supports the development of groups by other services and within the general community through the expertise of its members and Co-operative resources.

Relationships have been forged with a number of Peak Organisations at the State level including:

Community Development.

The Co-operative regularly holds seminars and Expos on issues of importance to families and carers who support people with a disability, to improve their well-being and access to information and resources.

This will be an opportunity for families and people who have a disability to look at ways that people can be supported to live in the community long term and how families can plan for the future. The Co-operative is currently seeking partners to work collaboratively on this issue and event. People can register their interest by contacting the Co-operative's Coordinator