{"id":390698,"date":"2010-03-04T19:22:25","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T00:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordonmoyes.com\/2010\/03\/05\/parliamentary-reports-addressing-the-concerns-of-the-most-vulnerable-in-our-community\/"},"modified":"2010-03-04T19:22:25","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T00:22:25","slug":"parliamentary-reports-addressing-the-concerns-of-the-most-vulnerable-in-our-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/390698","title":{"rendered":"Parliamentary reports addressing the concerns of the most vulnerable in our community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two reports were tabled in Parliament recently. The Standing Committee on Social Issues released a report on “Substitute decision-making for people lacking capacity” and the Committee on Children and Young People released “Inquiry into children and young people 9-14 years in NSW<\/span>”.<\/p>\n

The number of people who will need the support of substitute decision-making arrangements of some kind is expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades. This is due largely to Australia’s ageing population and the increasing number of dementia cases diagnosed each year. The Committee heard that in 2008 there were an estimated 227,000 people in Australia with dementia. By 2050 that number is estimated to increase by 330 per cent, against an estimated population increase of less than 40 per cent.<\/p>\n

People with dementia are only one group who may need the support of substitute decision-making. There are also people with mental illness, intellectual disability and acquired brain injury. In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in relation to people with disabilities, towards an emphasis on ability rather than disability, capacity rather incapacity, and rights rather than protection. This has lead to the adoption of the social model of disability and the principles encapsulated in the UN <\/span>Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities.<\/p>\n

Government, service providers, and the general community have an obligation to exercise a duty of care towards society’s most vulnerable members without being paternalistic or discriminatory. The Committee provided the NSW <\/span>Government with 35 recommendations. The major recommendation is to pursue legislation that establishes a single definition of “capacity” that is applicable to legislation related to substitute decision-making for people lacking capacity.<\/p>\n

As the years between the ages of 9 and 14 are crucial to physical, social and emotional development, they provide a key opportunity for positive intervention to help children and young people reach their full potential. Identifying and responding to early warning signs can help prevent children in this age group from becoming more vulnerable and make a significant difference to their current and future lives. Research indicates that intervening in the middle years can be effective, and that this period of major transition and heightened risk can be a key turning point for children and young people.<\/p>\n

Evidence to the Inquiry identified gaps in services across a wide range of areas critical to the education, health and welfare of this age group, and has identified a number of promising programs. Of particular interest to the Committee are those programs that are likely to impact on multiple outcomes for this age group. For instance, well-designed sport and recreational activities conducted outside of school hours can assist in the social, emotional and skills development of 9-14 year olds; reduce the risk associated with lack of adult supervision; contribute to improved health and wellbeing; and in some circumstances support parents\/carers to participate in the workforce.<\/p>\n

The development of a whole-of-government plan for children and young people from 0-18 years is a key recommendation of the Committee. The plan would focus on early intervention, as well as on programs for disadvantaged children and young people. The Committee found that the input provided by children and young people throughout its inquiry was both inspiring and informed.<\/p>\n

The Committee found that a more systematic approach, by all levels of government, is needed to involve children and young people in decision-making that will affect their lives. Hence, the Committee has recommended that the NSW <\/span>Commission for Children and Young People work with relevant NSW <\/span>Government Departments to develop plans to increase the genuine participation of children and young people in New South Wales.<\/p>\n

References: Substitute Decision-Making for People Lacking Capacity Report<\/a> and Children and Young People aged 9-14 years: The Missing Middle Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two reports were tabled in Parliament recently. The Standing Committee on Social Issues released a report on “Substitute decision-making for people lacking capacity” and the Committee on Children and Young People released “Inquiry into children and young people 9-14 years in NSW”. The number of people who will need the support of substitute decision-making arrangements […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}