A Policy
Framework to Guide the
Implementation of Individualized Funding
for Community Living Services in British Columbia
October 4, 2001
A Vision for the Future
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Families believe that people with developmental
disabilities, children and adults, have the same rights as other citizens to
freedom, equality, and self-determination.
More flexible and innovative approaches are needed to change the
status quo and ensure that people with disabilities can participate as valued
and contributing citizens in their communities. We therefore support
Individualized Funding as a policy mechanism that can respond to the unique
needs of individuals and families and enable them to:
These benefits can also multiply throughout the community, the economy and the society. For example, families and people with disabilities are liberated from the labels and constraints of programmed services and can focus on building a good life instead of advocating for services. Community and wider society reap the returns from the investment through the economic, social and cultural participation of people with disabilities. |
Core
Principles of an Individualized Funding System
The following principles, supported by individuals and
families across the province, are critical to the successful implementation of
Individualized Funding in BC.
1. Individuals and families should have a permanent seat at the government policy table.
2. A community governance structure should be created that is accountable to people with disabilities, their families and their supporters, operate without conflicts of interest, and have fair and transparent policies and procedures.
3. This new governance structure will not reduce Government’s ultimate responsibility for ensuring that adequate financial resources are available to meet legitimate individual needs, or impede the rights of individuals to appeal directly to their Government.
4. Individualized Funding must exist within a policy and regulatory framework that promotes the contribution and full citizenship of individuals with disabilities.
5. The governance structure must be responsible for the implementation of Individualized Funding and therefore must be able to recover savings, plan multi-year budgets and negotiate directly for its funding allocation with Government.
6. Individuals (supported by family, friends and advisors) and their personal support plans must drive the process of allocating Individualized Funding.
7. Planning supports must be available at the discretion of the individual, operating independently from government and service providers.
8. Obstacles and barriers that prevent individuals and families from solving their own problems must be removed.
9. The advocacy roles of community groups, networks, families and individuals will not be usurped by any new structure.
Core
Elements of Individualized Funding Policy
1.
The existing disability service system will be
transformed into an Individualized Funding system based on self-determination
and personal choice. Promoting citizenship, community participation and
contribution, this system will reflect the following core values &
principles:
accountability to
the person served;
trust in the capacity of individuals and
families to lead their own lives effectively, including successfully managing
financial resources;
portability and
flexibility in the use of funding;
access to
independent planning;
access to a
mechanism/process whereby individuals can appeal funding allocation decisions.
2. The concepts, values, principles and core elements of Individualized Funding must be embedded in legislation.
3. Individualized Funding will be mandated so that it is not subject to arbitrary changes in government policy.
4. Family contributions on behalf of their family member with a disability should be encouraged and acknowledged within the tax system.
5. Changes to the existing system must offer Individualized Funding as an immediate option to families.
6. A shift to community governance will
a. be cost neutral after all transition costs are accounted for; and
b. require the participation of all Government ministries and programs responsible in any way for meeting the needs of people with a developmental disability, in the transition to Individualized Funding and the ongoing functions of any new governance structure.
7. Public policy should address the means necessary to recapture public and civic assets.
8. Structural changes that result from a shift to community governance must be accompanied by retraining, and a reassignment program for affected public service employees.
9. A system of Individualized Funding should facilitate home ownership.
Community
Governance
A community governance structure, controlled by people with
disabilities and families, must be created to replace the current system that is
now overseen by Community Living Services within the Ministry for Children and
Family Development.
Community governance has a single purpose: to implement individualized funding.
Fundamental to this single purpose, the new community governance structure will have three primary functions:
1. Accept from government the transfer of responsibility and authority over disability policy and service systems, and to manage, reconfigure and restructure this service delivery system so that gradually the majority of financial resources will be placed in the hands of people with disabilities and families through the mechanism of Individualized Funding.
2. Create policies that establish Individualized Funding as the means by which financial resources are provided to people with disabilities and their families so they can determine the nature and type of services and supports they will access.
3. Implement Individualized Funding structurally and practically across the province.
This proposal recommends creating a community governance structure with legislated authority and responsibility to oversee the transformation of the existing service delivery system and to implement Individualized Funding. Because there are inherent risks associated with importing current policy and practice into any new governance structure, there is a fundamental need to
protect
the nature and pace of major structural change that is at the heart of this
proposal;
preserve
the autonomy of the negotiation function and individual allocation at the local
level.
The transformation process will be complex and challenging. Basic structures and ways of thinking must to be changed quickly in ways that will facilitate the eventual transformation of the entire system to accept Individualized Funding as the most appropriate means to meet the diverse needs of individuals with disabilities and their families. However, the pace of implementation must recognize the magnitude of this transformation and should allow individuals, families and service providers the time they need to successfully adapt.
Summary
To ensure that
Individualized Funding becomes embedded as a way of “thinking and acting”
throughout the entire system we will present government with a proposal that
includes the following key elements:
1.
An Individualized Funding Charter enshrined in
legislation.
2. An independent planning function.
3. A governance structure that reports directly to a Minister.
4. A majority of board members in any governance body will be people with disabilities and their families, thereby ensuring direct consumer accountability.
5. Current individual and family access to government must not be impeded.
6. An independent appeal process/Ombudsperson function.
7. The capacity to monitor systems so that timely changes can be made to both policy and the implementation of Individualized Funding.
8. A governance structure that serves as a single point of entry into the system for both children and adults, with a commitment to respond to the needs of each individual, regardless of age, place of residence or complexity of need, that values the role of families and friends.
Finally, and of significance given the growing unmet need
for support, the new service delivery system shall transfer via Individualized
Funding all savings realized through the restructuring of current service
delivery system to individuals and families now on service wait lists.
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If you have any comments you would like to make, please send an email to IFinBC@shaw.ca
For further information on this initiative, visit http://members.shaw.ca/IFinBC ( www.individualizedfunding.com )