On May 28th, Anthony Rowe, Director of Operations for Greater Opportunities, joined a panel of speakers hosted by Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area on “Post-Parental Care: Who Ensures the Well-being of Our Children Once We’re Gone?”
Anthony described Supported Living Services and emphasized the importance of having a circle of support. A query of GO consumers revealed that GO employees make up the entire circle of support for approximately half of our consumers, many of whom have outlived their parents. Thus, parents really need to focus on having trusted people in place to take over once you are gone.
Anthony explained that appointing trustees and conservators is a very important part of creating a circle of support. Lorna Drope, another speaker at the event, is an excellent attorney who specializes in conservatorship and estate planning for the special needs community.
His take-home message for the audience was to be well-informed about the services that a Supported Living program provides, and to be present as a member of the Circle of Support. He stressed, “These two things will help to ensure that the services provided will be satisfactory.“
During the Q&A section of the event, parents asked how Greater Opportunities maintains such low turnover of staff. “Listening to parents talk about their experiences with other providers really made me appreciate the commitment and hard work of the Greater Opportunities SLS Team,” said Rowe.
You can watch Anthony’s talk, as well as the rest of the speakers from the evening, on the Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area’s website. If you would like to see the slides that accompanied Anthony’s talk, you can find them on SlideShare.