Most government supported accommodation services have run a traditional, unwritten, practice of discouraging parent involvement. It is a breath of fresh air to see the Eastern Region of Melbourne actively attempting to break this traditional restrictive practice.

Whereas, our recent information indicates adult day service, adult training and support services, are reinforcing their practices of keeping parents/families out.

One of their arguments for keeping parents/families out, is their claim that clients are adults, and adults in the general community do not have their families involved in their work place.

What they fail to accept is, (a) most day service clients have limited capacity to self advocate in respect to service level and quality (Mum worries about her regular 3 year old at Kinder, but the little on can tell mum. Whereas, she worries far more about he 33 year old with no meaningful communications) and, (b) most day service clients need their ‘positive behaviour support’ reinforced in all living areas, and by as many people as possible.

The restrictive practice of keeping families out, is not as a benefit to clients, but as a benefit to service provider management and staff, of both day services and group homes – professionals to professionals.

The National Autistic Society is now a multimillion dollar service provider in the UK. The NAS started as a parent support group in a church hall in Ealing Broadway, West London.

When the group got so large that professionals were needed to manage the business, the parents made sure that sufficient parents would always be on the ‘board of management’ to ensure parents and families were always front and centre of all services.

Please feel free to provide us, LISA Inc, with your experiences of 'Day Services' - good or bad. Your identification will be kept strictly confidential