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SUNSHINE COAST CITIZEN ADVOCACY PROGRAMME INC.
POLICY AND PROCEDURES FOR RECRUITMENT OF PROTEGES
This paper is
divided into two sections:
1. Policy
2. Procedures
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will recruit individuals with an intellectual disability or multiple disability which has been incurred during development and prior to reaching adulthood. In order to achieve this, Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy:
will provide clear and consistent public and personal promotion and explanation of Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy's function and procedures.
will have a variety of means to ensure the involvement of people with an intellectual disability in Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy to provide direct input on the needs of people with an intellectual disability.
This policy and procedure will apply to all people regardless of ethnic or cultural background, gender, religion, age or level of disability.
1. POLICY
ACTIVE RECRUITMENT AND IDENTIFICATION
According to the Principles of Citizen Advocacy as outlined in CAPE (Standards for Citizen Advocacy Program Evaluation, O'Brien and Wolfensberger Test Edition), Program staff (with the advice and assistance of the Board of Management) will actively seek out and identify individuals with intellectual disability or multiple disability who require/need a Citizen Advocate and who have a wide variety of needs for representation, spokesmanship and support.
REFERRALS AND ENQUIRIES
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will be able to recruit Citizen Advocates for only a limited number of Protégés in any one year. In order to ensure that Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy adheres to Citizen Advocacy Principles, Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will not accept referrals from individuals, families, agencies or others, nor create a waiting list or registration of interest list for people needing a Citizen Advocate.
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will, however, keep a "working list" of approximately 5 Protégés at any one time to whom it makes a definite commitment to recruit a Citizen Advocate.
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will accept and record appropriate enquiries from interested parties, but these records will in no way constitute a waiting list. Program staff will ensure that clear explanation of Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy recruitment procedures are given to enquiries preferably in writing.
FLEXIBLE AND PERSONAL APPROACH TO INDIVIDUAL NEEDS
People with an intellectual disability have a wide variety of needs for representation and relationships which can be met by Citizen Advocates. Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ensure it undertakes to achieve sufficient flexibility in its recruitment procedure to define and support relationships which can fit the individual, emotional or practical protection needs of the person with a disability. Program staff will get to know potential Protégés and understand preferences and characteristics of their needs on a personal level and involve them personally in Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy.
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will plan to create a wide variety of relationships in which Advocates will be focused on meeting one of more of the practical and/or emotional needs of the person.
BALANCED ORIENTATION TO PROTEGE NEEDS
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy Inc. staff will ensure that it achieves a balance in the following criteria/characteristics of people with an intellectual disability and this balance will reflect the demography/needs of the individual as follows:-
1. AGE: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will recruit persons of various ages, from birth onwards, and the age range will reflect the demography of the local community.
2. GENDER: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will recruit individuals of both sexes and will aim for a balance of males and females.
3. ETHNIC AND CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will recruit and will attempt to involve persons from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
4. VARIOUS LIVING SITUATIONS: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ensure that people living in different types of accommodation in the local area are sought out including:
large residential centres, boarding houses, hostels, family homes, nursing homes, supported accommodation, group homes, independent living, street shelters, custodial facilities
5. LEVELS OF DISABILITY: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ensure it includes people who have varying degrees of intellectual disability or multiple disability who have high, medium or low support needs.
6. SEGREGATION OR COMMUNITY EXCLUSION: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will actively seek out individuals who are at risk of ostracism or segregation which could be a result of their level of disability, physical isolation, forced isolation, difficulties in communication and relationship reciprocation, or "behaviour problems".
7. ACTIVE SPOKESMANSHIP: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will recruit individuals who have needs for vigorous defence or representation of their legal and human rights which may be at risk of being compromised.
8. LENGTH OF RELATIONSHIP: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy recognises that relationships will vary in the length of commitment required by an Advocate to meet the individual needs of the Protégé. Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy Inc. will, over time, create a range of short-term and long-term relationships based on the needs of each person but will, however, aim to create a majority of relationships based on a long-term, perhaps even life-long, commitment of both parties involved.
9. CRISIS SITUATION: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will accept those persons who require immediate support and/or spokesmanship, according to the availability of Crisis Advocates, to meet the most immediate needs for representation or instrumental action of the person in crisis. Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will recruit and support a number of stand-by crisis advocates.
10. TYPES OF ADVOCACY ROLE REQUIRED TO MEET INDIVIDUAL NEEDS: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy Inc. will recognise the need of individuals for different types of relationships and will endeavour to achieve a balance in these areas according to the needs and interests of the person with a disability. Relationship types may be defined upon the following dimensions:-
FORMAL: requiring the due process of law for assistance: "instrumental" assistance eg. conservator, guardian of property, or "instrumental-expressive" - adoptive-parent, or plenary guardian of a person.
INFORMAL - created by the choice of those who are party to them.
EXPRESSIVE NEEDS - for communication, relationship, support and love, and
INSTRUMENTAL NEEDS - to solve practical, material problems.
11. VULNERABILITY: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will actively seek out individuals who are at risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation or inappropriate or unethical (professional) treatment.
12. NEEDS FOR DIFFERENT FORMS OF ADVOCACY ROLES:
e.g. mentor, ally, friend, protector.
13. CAPACITY FOR RELATIONSHIP RECIPROCITY: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will seek out and recruit people who may be limited in their ability to respond to others, including a Citizen Advocate.
TIMEFRAME AND NUMBER OF PERSONS
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy staff and Board of Management will decide on the timeframe and number of persons to be accepted into Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy at a given time according to individual need and this will be clearly explained to the protégé.
INDIVIDUAL INFORMATION
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ensure that information about the protégé obtained in order to understand their individual needs and life experiences and to create protégé profile will remain private and confidential. Only relevant and valid information such as date of birth, name, address, disabling conditions and impairments, work/day placement, life experiences to date, likes/dislikes, which define protégés needs, preferences and characteristics which are practical and useful for advocate recruitment, matching and orientation will be requested and kept. Protégés will be informed of the reasons why the information is collected.
FEEDBACK AND REVIEW
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will regularly review and obtain feedback on its recruitment policies and procedures to ensure it meets the needs of individuals who use or may use Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy. Both Protégés and Advocates will be encouraged to be actively involved in all reviews of policies as well as an external evaluation of Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy to be held every approximately every two/three years.
FILE DISPOSAL
At the conclusion of each financial year, all relationship files will be reviewed. For relationships that have been discontinued/completed for over 5 years the file will be disposed by shredding. A record of files disposed will be kept which will include the disposal date, and name of the protégé and advocate.
2. PROCEDURES
The following processes will comprise the procedures for the recruitment of people with an intellectual disability in our local community.
AWARENESS PROMOTION
1. Active Recruitment of Protégés: Program staff will actively seek out people with an intellectual disability in the local community by seeking out families who have a member with an intellectual disability, visiting local service agencies, residential organisations, other accommodation services or centres (eg. boarding houses), sheltered workshop and sources or places of "open employment", social clubs or interest groups, different cultural organisations homeless persons shelters, remand centres and groups, as well as other sources deemed appropriate by Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy. e.g. local doctors/chemists etc.
2. Publicity: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will promote Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy in the local area so that people from all cultural backgrounds with an intellectual disability are aware of Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy.
Publicity of Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy, including brochures and media releases, will at all times endeavour to project the most positive, honest image and interpretation of people with disability. Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy Inc. will seek, through its publicity, to project the most highly positive and value-conferring image of people with intellectual disability possible.
3. Accessibility: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ensure that it has physical accessibility through both its internal and external layout and location within the local community and that all people involved with Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy are able to visit at all times.
4. Information: All information provided about Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will aim to be easily comprehensible and will state its overall aims, objectives and operations.
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ensure access to ethnic translation or interpreters if necessary.
5. Involvement: Program staff and the Board of Management will be available and approachable and will encourage people with an intellectual disability to be involved in Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy , including on the Board of Management and on the policy sub-committee.
6. Staff Roles: The Board of Management will ensure the staff's role in recruitment of people with an intellectual disability is clearly outlined and regularly reviewed.
7. Community Base: Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ensure it uses local community resources in all the above endeavours.
IDENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUAL IN NEED OF A CITIZEN ADVOCATE
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will ascertain the population of people with an intellectual disability within the Sunshine Coast by:-
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regular review of information on people with an intellectual disability, accommodation and other related services, of demographic changes in community (eg. closure of low-cost accommodation sources due to commercial sprawl etc). |
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program staff will over time attempt to get to know personally as many people with an intellectual disability as possible in the Sunshine Coast area. |
RECRUITMENT OF INDIVIDUAL IN NEED OF A CITIZEN ADVOCATE
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will identify a limited number of people in need of a Citizen Advocate.
In doing so the following guidelines will be followed:-
Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy Co-ordinator and/or Assistant Co-ordinator will make an arrangement to meet with the person with a disability at a time and location convenient to them;
a) for those persons who are able to communicate, staff will ascertain, and try to understand, through discussion with the person, as well as observation of the person's environment, the person's needs, wishes, interests, expectations, life experiences and why the person needs a Citizen Advocate.
b) for those persons who have difficulty in communicating and who may be unable to clearly express their wishes or needs, or who may be in a situation of segregation or isolation, Program staff may approach the person's family, relevant others or service providers to gain access/information and meet with these persons to discuss their (perceived) needs and wishes of the person with disability.
c) Program staff will attempt to understand, through consultation with the Protégé, family, and service providers; the situation of the Protégé, their fundamental and over-riding needs, their life experiences, connections with others both paid and unpaid, their interests, hopes, abilities and likely future.
This information will form the foundation of the Protégé Profile from which a profile of the potential Advocate will be drawn.
3. For a person under the age of 18 years, Program staff will attempt to obtain agreement from the legally appointed guardian or person responsible to recruit a Citizen Advocate for the individual.
4. Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy will, with permission being sought initially from the Protégé (as much as possible), attempt to positively include others who are genuinely interested in the welfare of the person with disability so that Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy processes may be assisted not sabotaged.
5. Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy may engage the services of an interpreter if necessary so as to better understand the needs and wishes of the individual and so that this person may understand the functions of Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy.
CRITERIA FOR RECRUITMENT AND ACCEPTANCE INTO PROGRAM
Decision-making: The Board of Management with discussions with the Co-ordinator will be responsible for deciding on priorities for the recruitment and acceptance of new protégés into Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy. The protégé recruitment plan will be the focus of the years work.
CONSULTATION/AGREEMENT PROCESS
Once the decision has been made to accept a Protégé into Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy , the Co-ordinator and/or the Assistant Co-ordinator will discuss this with the person with disability and relevant others and obtain their agreement and willingness for involvement.
PROTEGE PROFILE - NEEDS AND INTERESTS
Information obtained during meetings with the person with disability or any other person or agency will be recorded in the form of a Protégé Profile. This information is recorded so as to assist in the recruitment of a suitable Advocate. All information will be recorded from the perspective of the Protégé and no other person or agency.
CONFIDENTIALITY
All information about the person with disability including information recorded in the Protégé Profile is taken for the sole purpose of assisting in finding an Advocate. All information is to remain private and confidential at all times.
Should any Board of Management member or any other individual request any specific information about any protégé or Citizen Advocacy relationship, permission will be sought and received from the person/people involved before this information is released.
PERSONAL DIRECT INVOLVEMENT
In order to get to know the person with a disability, Program staff will undertake to visit the person in home and work situations, involve then in interest groups or social activities, take them out on outings in local community settings on a one-to-one basis, involve them in Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy by inviting them to visit the office, attend social events, meet with Committee, other Advocates and Protégés, and receive program information.
WITHDRAWAL FROM PROGRAM/PROCEEDING WITHOUT AGREEMENT
If the person with a disability cannot communicate their agreement or expresses a wish not to be involved or to withdraw from Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy, this will be respected if considered appropriate following analysis and discussion of reasons between Citizen Advocacy staff and the individual with an intellectual disability.
Citizen Advocacy staff may however decide to proceed with recruitment of the person, if the following are relevant:
The reasons ascertained by Sunshine Coast Citizen Advocacy staff are considered to be surmountable (eg. such as shyness or paranoia).
Where the person is at serious risk of abuse or restraint.
Where a person is unable to express their agreement to be involved due to communication difficulties or the level of their disability. In these cases, this will be on the following basis only:
Where Citizen Advocacy staff have carefully assessed the needs of the person with an intellectual disability for an Advocate, and
Where the benefits of this individual having an Advocate can be clearly demonstrated,
Where agreement of the Board of
Management to proceed has been recorded.