Improving the NDIS for children and young people: The importance of being guided by their voice
This report gives advice to the NDIA Board about improving the NDIS for children and young people with disabilities. When we use the term young people, we mean people 25 years old and younger.
The Children, Young People and Families Reference Group of the Independent Advisory Council (IAC) wrote this report. When we say we, we mean the IAC.
Our recommendations
We recommend the NDIA develop a children and young people’s strategy. The voice of children and young people should guide the strategy. The strategy should include:
Making sure the NDIA thinks about all young people from different backgrounds and situations.
Working with young people and families to understand what they think.
Understanding the role of families in supporting the voice of their child.
Making sure that people who work with children, young people and their families understand it is important to listen to the voices of children and young people.
Think about how to do individual planning and goal setting.
Work closely with other government agencies like education.
Work with and respect the work of other youth organisations.
What we found in our research
Many families and carers think the NDIS is the only way they can get support.
The demand for disability services is increasing. This is because families are finding it hard for their child to take part in community and mainstream services.
We know it is the responsibility of mainstream and community services to include all young people with disabilities.
Young people have said NDIS processes are difficult to work out and take a long time.
Too many young people live in Supported Independent Living (SIL) and don’t have choices about how they live.
Many people say the school leaver employment supports program did not help them to get a job.
The NDIS does not know how to listen to the voice of children and young people.
NDIS needs to make new ways for children of all ages to get the support they need.
The NDIS needs to build trust with the community again.