Citizenship & Self-Directed Support

Citizenship & Self-Directed Support

Dr Simon Duffy ￭ The Centre for Welfare Reform ￭ 20th August 2013 ￭ Enabling Good Lives,

Christchurch

1. Why is citizenship important?

2. What is citizenship?

3. What is self-directed support?

4. Questions and themes

Why is citizenship important?

What is wrong with institutions?

1.Devalued lives - the institution defines your place, your role, your purpose.

2.No freedom or control - the institution strips you of freedom and personal authority

3.Impoverishment - economic power is nullified

4.Sheltered, but homeless - a home is more than a roof - it’s vital to control privacy and security

5.‘Care’ not help - ‘care’ already assumes the passivity and lower value of the person ‘in care’.

6.Disconnected - the institution cuts you off and leaves you within a hierarchical system where abuse can become natural

7.Loveless - relationships have no place in the institution

1. Direction - It’s risky if my life lacks meaning and value

2. Freedom - It’s risky if I cannot direct my life, communicate or be listened to.

3. Money - It’s risky if I lack money or if I cannot control my own money.

4. Home - It’s risky if I cannot control who I live with, my home and my privacy.

5. Help - It’s risky if I’ve no one to help me and if I cannot control who helps me.

6. Life - It’s risky if I am not a valued member of my community.

7. Love - It’s risky to have no friends or family.

Why citizenship is safer

Citizenship is possible for everyone

it just might take some extra thought

Being a citizen is better than being ‘normal’

it brings us together as equals

but also as unique free individuals

Equal and different

Citizenship is also very practical. We can use the idea of citizenship to think about how to help someone.

Citizenship is the right goal

What is citizenship?

1. Purpose

Demanding of man that he assumes his condition and not till his neighbour's field, he [Rebbe Yaakov-Yitzhak, The Seer of Lublin] said: "There are many paths leading to perfection; it is given to each of us to choose our own, and by following it with great dedication, we can make it become our truth, our only truth."

Elie Wiesel

Our real wealth...

2. Freedom

I used to think that freedom was freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience. But freedom needs to include all of the lives of all of the people. Freedom is the right to sow what you want. It's the right to make boots of shoes, it's the right to bake bread from the grain you've sown and to sell it or not to sell it as you choose. The same goes for a locksmith or steelworker or an artist - freedom is the right to live and work as you wish and not as you're ordered to. But these days there's no freedom for anyone - whether you write books, whether you sow grain or whether you make boots.

Vassily Grossman

3. Money

You could no more make a city out of paupers than out of slaves.

Aristotle

Self-interest is the most powerful engine for individual and social development, in other words, social progress, in other words social justice. It is when the most disadvantaged in society have the opportunity to improve their lives in their own self-interest that change will take place.

Noel Pearson

4. Home

Then the old Vainamoinen put this into words:'Strange food goes down the wrong wayeven in good lodging;in his land a man's better at home loftier.If only sweet God would grantthe kind creator allowme to come to my own landsthe lands where I used to live!Better in your own countryeven water off your solethan in a foreign countryhoney from a golden bowl.'

The Kalevala

5. Help

There are eight degrees of charity, one higher than the other. The highest degree, exceeded by none, is that of the person who assists a poor Jew by providing him with a gift or loan or by accepting him into a business partnership or by helping him find employment - in a word, by putting him where he can dispense with other people's aid. With reference to such aid, it is said, “You shall strengthen him, be he a stranger or a settler, he shall live with you” (Lev. 25:35), which means strengthen him in such manner that his falling into want is prevented.

Maimonides

6. Life

True love leads a man to fulfilment, not by drawing things to himself but by forcing him to transcend himself and to be something greater than himself. True spiritual love takes the isolated individual, exacts from him labour, sacrifice, and the gift of himself.

Thomas Merton

7. Love

Resources multiply in networks created by intentionally building relationships that cross boundaries & serve people's deepest purposes.

Seymour Sarason

What is self-directed support?

40 plus years of self-directed support

• always improves outcomes

• always increases demand

• sometimes reduces costs

• system design is critical

1 Rights - robust rights that give people effective entitlements

2 Control - person, or someone close to them, controls budget

3 Clarity - systems, rules and budgets are clear

4 Flexibility - budgets can be used in many different ways

5 Ease of Use - it is easy to plan, manage and control assistance

6 Community - person’s contribution to society grows

7 Sustainable - system is affordable, innovative and supported

These would seem to be some of the qualities of an effective system of self-directed support.

1. Rights

The system gave people gifts

not rights, not citizenship

the government money fallacy...

...money can’t always be theirs

“It’s my life, my human rights”

2. Control

It’s not about doing everything for yourself

3. Clarity

The old system - services first

The new system - people first

4. Flexibility

5. Ease of Use

6. Community

We don’t know enough about abuse; but we do know institutions increase the risk of it and having relationships

reduces the risk of it.

7. Sustainable

Positive change can happen at any levels, but requires the creation of opportunities for innovation

Innovation is complex, evolving and requires different strategies at different stages.

Questions and themes

1. Whose money do you think it is? If it is the person’s entitlement what rules might still apply? - People need to understand their right to funding and some will need education.

2. Who should be able to manage the budget? What new systems might be useful to make control easier? - Assistance available to those who need it, ensuring budgets can be managed by people they can trust. Checks and balances need to be in place. System infrastructures that are in place ie providers use these where possible

3. Do you want to have some idea of your budget before you plan or only after you’ve planned? How would you decide what is a fair budget? - Lots of different ideas, budget first can avoid disappointment. However can also lead to thinking about money rather than person.

4. Is there anything you think people should NOT be able to use their budget for? If not, why not? - Illegal activities. Less restrictions equals more creativity.

5. Do you want one professional group to act as coordinators or not? If you do then who? If not, why not? - Many variables, dependant on person, their family etc

6. Is the local community an important factor in the new system? If so how might this link be best created? - Yes, important - Looks different for everyone. In an ideal world would occur naturally. Linking looks different for everyone. Could vary how people spend their $$. Brokerage/facilitation/educative role. Infrastructure needed, both facilities and information systems so people can find the right services for them.

7. What can be done to make the system affordable and to make the available funding go as far as possible? - Bureaucracy reduced. Collaboration between services and people so they can achieve

Questions and Group Responses

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