I've just been PMing with another poster and she has been told a very different story to me. My Family Support Package was funded this financial year and I have been told it will continue until my son turns 18. Obviously I am not naive enough to believe that :/.

Anyone else with a FSP?

http://www.qai.org.au/

If you scroll down the page, there's some info that recurrent funding is not being reviewed yet but top up or non-recurrent funding is being reviewed .

The actual FSP doesn't exist any more. If you are getting recurrent funding via a broker it looks like you are still receiving supports but it is not Family Support Package as it once was. All FSP families via DSQ were advised by written letter that FSP no longer exists. I am funded directly via DSQ and they are tightening flexibility. I will be fighting them all the way. DSQ, previous FSP, families are no longer able for reimbursements as at September, no longer funding medications also. There are so many restrictions in place. I haven't lost any funding but I am finding it difficult to spend it within the new restrictions and cannot afford what I actually need.

Frustrating as all hell. We only have to suffer til NDIS I guess.

From DSQ website. I would say you are lucky the org brokering your funds has allocated them in the same way they were previously. It isn't the case for everyone at all.

http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/disabili...-service-system

I would really appreciate to hear from others, as I think this is something that really should go to the media. The affect the changes will have to some of the most suffering families will be massive and it seems to be very behind closed doors and the greater community can't see what's happening.

I did read that page back in July 2011 (well, before July) but YKWIM.

I have received no letter and my org continues to describe my package as a FSP. When we were re-assessed when my son turned 18, our funding was referred to as a FSP by DSQ and when I talk to our DSQ casemanager she talks about our FSP. I think ours was left untouched because doing the reassessments in time was impossible and I know other families who like me believe they are still receiving FSP .

I didn't think it was up to the org to switch to blockfunding--my understanding was that the funding type was directed by DSQ. I know that blockfunding is coming some time for my org.

Post school services is now called Transition for School Leavers and apparently is almost impossible to get.

None of our criteria has changed except we have to provide documentation if we want to buy specialist foods for limited diets. Meds are still funded currently (and that's one of our big bills ).

I do feel like a bit more clarity and openness would help enormously. I'm sick of feeling stressed.

I think the problem for me is too much openness. I know what is going on inside DSQ and it makes me anxious and stressed every night.

In one sense I am "lucky" as my older two children have profound impairments and I don't see Transition for School Leavers or similar being an issue for them.

However, I am really struggling at the moment because I have three children in the family with disabilities and I need the ongoing flexibility with funding to meet all their needs. At the moment, they seem to be cutting the services I need and offering me more services I can't use.

I am holding out for something that is "in process" at the moment which I hope will enable me the old flexibility, but because I have been told this in confidence I can't post about it.

Some of the changes make no sense and are no way cost effective.

Meds are definitely gone, as apparently the federal government already subsidise scripts for any one with a disability due to having a Health Care Card and the logic is we should be able to cover the remainder. However, any non PBS medications fall into the "unmet needs category". Just a bit load of BS, really.

I am in Ipswich and my funding and case manager is directly via DSQ.

I think we are having different experiences because your funding is brokerage and mine is direct. But I expect the changes at DSQ will filter down to the other orgs in time.

In saying that, I am fighting the changes that are not cost effective and leave so many needs unmet that we can only hope they realise and change to allow more flexibility once again.

Yet meds are on my support plan for this financial year.

What makes me really angry is that we are receiving such different services. It is so unfair and always has been.

I get different stories depending on who I talk to and depending which service they are with. My DSQ case manager is lovely but all she can do is tell me he is on the register and is unlikely to get blockfunding. I've been told Transition for School Leavers will help him next year and I have been told nobody got anything this year. Transition for School Leavers is what used to be used for Day Respite programs so it is relevant for you BG. I've also been told that he is too high functioning to be given any Transition funding and yet DSQ rushed the application through for him at the last minute after several c*ck ups meant it had not been applied for.

Yes, I think I am deeply grateful I chose brokerage over direct DSQ support all those years ago.

I know change is coming and it is only a matter of when, not if.

My DSQ case manager and her manager are just gems. However, they just cannot do what they used to be able to because of the new policies that are going in place. My older two just went through the assessment process for ongoing and further supports.

However, we have been told a lot of the supports we get now are in the "unmet needs" category and would stop sometime. I cried and cried as the supports being offered instead just won't suit us and in the end I will be the one left to carry the burden.

If they remove my informal respite I will be a mess. At the moment I have been approved for extension til December.

I am also so angry because a few years ago I too was guaranteed ongoing services til DD was 18.

The very idea that it makes sense to move stuff to an unmet needs section is beyond me.

Welp, it kinda brings home how hard the FSP were to get if we are the only two families who have had one and are going through the changes.

I've always felt that the FSP system was very unfair as if you got a reasonable sized package you were able to manage but if you didn't get one it sucked.

Anyone out there without a FSP who is seeing funding disappear, what little they accessed?

I know there are a few other Qld ladies on this site who have been through hell and back. Maybe they will pop into this topic soon.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensl...f-1226449630957

Nice to see!

There has been some changes made to my support plan too. I still haven't worked out how much it will affect me, but I think things are going to be very different.
The caseworker I have atm seems a bit soso. She started in Jan and I still haven't met her. I don't know when she will next be here and I can't do this 6 months plan until we meet. I can't access any funds until she gets off her butt and comes here (she doesn't live in the same town) and does a new plan

Margaret

Gee Margaret, that is insane. So you currently are not accessing any funds for this 6 month period, because the case worker hasn't completed your plan.

Our plans all have to be in place by 1 July, and 1 January.

Thats very poor.

That's terrible Margaret! Our plan was completed by July 1 and we meet again in a couple of weeks to review it.

I know.
I'm happy to pay for everything and then at the end of the month submit all of my recipts for payment which is what I have been doing. But I have no idea what the case worker is actually doing and I hate having to chase her.

Margaret