Alternatives to Welfare Guardianship
With the right support, people with intellectual disability can have choice and control in their lives.
While parents may feel pressured to apply for a welfare guardianship order (a form of substitute decision-making), many also recognise their child’s rights and autonomy, and are using supported decision-making instead.
What is supported decision-making?
Supported decision-making means helping someone to have choice and control over their life. This could mean presenting information in ways they understand, giving them more time to process that information, and making sure they consider different options for themselves using pictures, mind maps, pros and cons lists, or anything else that makes decisions easier.
Here’s an example: Sam is a 28-year-old man with an intellectual disability who is looking for a new flat. He has been shown three options by his mother, Maria, but he feels overwhelmed by all the details.
Here’s what Maria might do, using supported decision-making:
Step 1: Simplify the options
Maria prepares a one-page summary for each flat, using Easy Read principles (short sentences, simple language and with pictures):
o Flat 1: Close to the bus stop. Has two flatmates. $150 a week.
o Flat 2: Has a big garden. No flatmates. $180 a week.
o Flat 3: Close to shops. One flatmate. $160 a week.
She also includes photos of each flat, the bus stop, the garden and the flatmates.
Step 2: Explaining trade-offs
Sam says he likes the garden at Flat 2. Maria explains if he chooses Flat 2, he’ll have the garden, but it costs $180 a week. That’s more money than the other flats. He might not be able to buy as many new games each month. She also tells him Flat 3 is close to the shops. He could walk there easily, but he’d have one flatmate.
Step 3: Using questions to empower Sam
Maria asks Sam questions to help him think about what matters most:
o "Do you want to live with flatmates, or by yourself?"
o "How much money do you want to save each week?"
o "Do you want to be close to the bus or shops?"
Step 4: Giving time and support
Sam says he’s not sure. Maria gives him a couple of days to think about it. She also arranges for him to visit each flat again to see how he feels in each place.
Step 5: Helping him decide
After visiting the flats, Sam decides he likes Flat 3 the best. Maria supports him to tell the landlord, sign the rental agreement and move in.
Why supported decision-making worked in this example
o Visual aids helped Sam process information.
o Explaining trade-offs showed him the consequences of his choices.
o Open-ended questions allowed Sam to identify his priorities.
o Time to decide reduced pressure and helped him feel confident in his choice.
o Support with actions ensured he could carry out his decision independently.
Supported decision-making is like a muscle that gets stronger the more you use it, and as all support persons of a disabled person learn to trust each other and embrace risk and autonomy.
Research by Inclusion International shows that more autonomous decision-making is made possible through community inclusion (such as more options and more people involved), appropriate communication tools (such as picture cards, role play, poster making) and effective safeguards (such as reviewing decisions regularly, emergency planning, and mechanisms to stop things like entering excessive debt).
For parents who’ve long been told what their child cannot do by doctors and teachers, it can take time to adjust to seeing their child as a fully capable decision maker. For people with intellectual disability who’ve been under the same impression, they may also need time to build their confidence.
Here are some intermediate steps, as alternatives to welfare guardianship.
Dealing with government agencies
All New Zealand government agencies allow people to assign a representative to act for them, such as filling in forms, going to appointments and giving information. Work and Income calls a representative an agent, while IRD calls them a nominated person. Each agency will have their own form to enable representation.
Banking and finances
Anyone can choose someone else to use their bank account with or for them, as either a co-signatory or an authorised signatory.
· A co-signatory is allowed to use a person’s bank account with them.
· An authorised signatory is allowed to use a person’s bank account for them.
Some people use these options to help keep them safe and support them to make choices. You can learn more about account mandates on the Banking Ombudsman Scheme website.
Finances can also be managed through the creation of a discretionary trust, which holds property and assets managed by a trustee or trustees that can only be used according to predetermined rules for the benefit of, in this case, the person with intellectual disability. The Personal Advocacy and Safeguarding Adults Trust (PASAT) offers a Discretionary Trust Management service for a fee.
Independent advocacy
An independent advocate is not part of a disability support service that provides the main supports for a person with intellectual disability, and cannot gain from any decision they may or may not make. This could be a family member, a friend or someone who offers formal independent advocacy services.
PASAT can support people with decision-making for free in the Waikato, MidCentral, and Ōtautahi Christchurch. They also have fee-based advocacy plans throughout the country.
Aotearoa Disability Law offers free legal services to disabled people when their question or issue is about their disability. Other lawyers can also act as an independent advocate, particularly disability law specialists.
Circles of support
Circles of support is a popular way to distribute decision-making across a group of people united by their care for a person with intellectual disability. Each person brings a unique perspective and connections that help make decision-making a success. The key is to meet regularly and foster relationships among the group, as well as with the person with the disability.
What if my relation can’t write their signature?
Signatures can cause a sticking point, but your child can ask to use an electronic signature in most cases. The Electronic Transactions Act 2002 gives electronic signatures the same legal status as written signatures, providing it identifies the signatory, shows the signatory is saying yes, and that the signatory wants to use an electronic signature.
For more information
· Money, Health and Wellbeing Choices – Easy Read (IHC)
· Easy Read How I Make my Decisions Form (People First)
· Independent But Not Alone: Global Report on the Right to Decide (Inclusion International)
