Under the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000, 16 and 17-year-olds can now receive direct payments to purchase their own personal assistance. The same legislation also allows for unpaid carers (usually parents) to be given the funding to 'buy' the form of respite care that best suits the young people in their care.
According to Rowen Jade, Youth Independent Living Worker with the West of England Centre for Inclusive Living, offering choice and control through the employment of personal assistants to young people as well as adults is a significant move. "A youth personal assistance support scheme is an essential element in young disabled people's journey towards independence and inclusion. Young disabled people should have the same rights as disabled adults to exercise choice and control over their lives", she said.
"In many cases, parents are choosing to employ personal assistants to work with their son or daughter rather than sending them away to a more traditional, institutional 'respite care' setting."
Rowen Jade is also author of Creating Independence and Inclusion: Youth Personal Assistance Support Scheme Good Practice Guidelines, published recently by The National Youth Agency in partnership with WECIL. The pack, including video, describes the challenging journey to date of the youth personal assistance support scheme set up in Bristol and outlines plans for the future, which include seeing the scheme grow throughout the country.
It is available, price 9.50, from The National Youth Agency Publications Sales, tel: 0116 285 3709, fax: 0116 285 3777, email: sales@nya.org.uk.
