Turning 18

May 1

18 is a milestone for everyone, a very exciting point in life with endless opportunities and new adventures on the horizon. But for those living with disability it also means that the doors can close on their legal guardians in their ability to help and access information on their loved one's behalf.

The thing that you have been used to doing as their carer, access to information, privacy permissions and financial records don’t automatically transfer when they turn 18. There are several things that need to be considered and actions taken for you to be able to continue helping through life.

In terms of the NDIS, they encourage adults to be involved in making their own decisions. If the person you care for has a NDIS plan, they’ll be encouraged to be responsible for managing their own plan if at all possible. This is their default position regardless of the person you care for’s capacity to make their own decisions and needs to be discussed with NDIS once they turn 18 in order to set things up in a way that best meets their needs.

There are two broad options are essentially: Will they have the capacity to manage their own plan, or will you need to continue to manage their plan on their behalf?

Continuing to Manage their Plan on Their Behalf

You will most likely receive correspondence from NDIS a few months before they turn 18. This will have information and instructions on what action to take and what options are available.

Correspondence sometimes falls through the cracks so it’s a good idea to proactively contact the NDIS if you have received correspondence 8 weeks before their 18th birthday.

Becoming a Nominee

This usually needs to be done when it is not possible for the person that you care for to be assisted to make decisions for themselves. There are 2 types of nominees: a plan nominee and a correspondence nominee. This route is much more straightforward when the person living with the disability is requesting you to be their nominee, it is much harder if you aren’t nominated by them.

For more information;

https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/families-and-carers/guardians-and-nominees-explained

Applying for Guardianship or As an Administrator

If you are over 18 in Australia, you are presumed to have the capacity to make your own decisions. If the person that you are caring for may not have that capacity this is not an automatic assumption once they turn 18. There is an option to apply to be their guardian or administrator that will legally recognise your ability to make decisions on their behalf. The pathway for this is done through the legal system and various tribunals in each state. It’s a complex process that can take many months and, in most states, can be started up to 6 months before they turn 18. If you choose to go down this path there are various websites and sources of information for tribunal themselves however it's such a complex process that engaging with independent legal counsel to help you is often the best option.

Helping Them Transition to Managing Their Own Plan

Transitioning for some means they won’t need a nominee. Here are some ways to help prepare the young adults with disabilities into adulthood. It is never too late to start preparing them, but starting earlier will help ease them into independence when the time comes.

Tips on how to build up your young child to manage their own NDIS plan:

Building their confidence about their disability, giving them a child friendly explanation of their disability that they are able to tell their peers, teachers etc.
Getting them involved in choosing their support worker, like getting them to choose some questions to ask and having them at interviews to ask those questions.
Discussing with them their goals and making them a part of the goal making process. Breaking the goals down and explaining how the services/choice are helping them achieve their goals.
Start showing them how to organise NDIS documents, like saving files into folders on a computer.

Having them involved in Plan reviews, try and having them reflect on the different services they used and how they helped them, so that they can give some answers during the review.

Tips on how to continue these skills with Teenagers and Young Adults:

Asking their opinions on how they want to spend their budget, with some cost value analysis on different services whether they find specialists of certain services more helpful compared to some more general services. If them seem to struggle understanding budgeting, maybe looking into a course/service on budgeting.

Breaking down their goals even further into short term and long term goals and discussing how different services can help these goals be achieved.
Showing them how to do admin on their plan, how to do things like lodge claims and get them to do these tasks when needed while you are there to give them a helping hand.
Talking to them about their values and how these values can relate to what they want and need in a service provider. Helping them develop questions to ask to ensure they are getting what they want and need.
Have them take more of a lead in Plan reviews, have them reflect on services and how it helped with their goals. As well as if there are any other services that could help them achieve their current goals as well as any future goals they want to add into their plan.
Go through the different Plan Management options they have, the pros and cons of each and which might be best for them.

Shifting the Plan from you to them

Before they turn 18 there are a couple of ways that can make the transfer of management responsibility easier. Making sure that you know how they want their plan managed (Self-Managed, Plan management) so that it can be a smooth transition for them.

Having a mygov account set up for them. Having a bank account set up just for their NDIS funds if your child is going to self-manage or plan-manage their NDIS funds.

Other things to consider:

Adults need a legal form of photo ID, if they haven't already got their driver’s licence or if they are unable to get their driver's licence then getting them a proof of age card.
Transition between paediatric to adult healthcare, some healthcare paediatric providers have a cut off at 18, others 21. Discussing this with your child and looking at other healthcare providers with them to ease the transition.
Helping them enrol to vote or getting them an exemption form, ensure that you cover both state and federal.
Helping them setup a Will and/or Enduring Power of Attorney