Who Will Be There For Them When I’m Gone?

Information Session

The Challenge

Many ageing parents continue to provide daily care and advocacy for their adult son or
daughter with an intellectual disability—often while facing their own declining health.

Alongside ageing, parents carry deep concerns about the future, including:

• Planning for long-term support, housing, and care
• Emotional stress, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty about what lies ahead
• Worry about placing trust in formal services with high staff turnover
• Fear that no one will truly know—or follow—the detailed, personal knowledge of their son or daughter’s care
• Feeling they have little or no control over what will happen in the future

What Happens When Parents Can No Longer Provide Support?

When parents are no longer present, adults with intellectual disability may be at risk of:

• Being moved—sometimes repeatedly—away from familiar places and people
• Having essential and carefully tailored supports changed or removed
• Experiencing frequent staff turnover, with workers who lack personal knowledge of their needs
• Being grouped with others who are not compatible
• Losing opportunities for growth, meaningful experiences, and independence
• Suffering negative impacts to their health, well-being, and quality of life

The system can control a person like a parent—but it cannot love them like a parent.

Without at least one freely given, committed relationship, a person is at risk of being
disconnected from the valued world they know and placed in circumstances that may lead to
deterioration.

So, the question remains:

How can such a relationship be formed while parents are still here to share their unique
knowledge?

Citizen Advocacy: Relationships That Last

Citizen Advocacy creates long-term, freely given, one-to-one relationships between
community members and individuals with intellectual disability.

A Citizen Advocate:

• Offers a relationship independent of the service system
• Provides close identification and advocacy on the person’s behalf
• Helps prevent neglect or system failure before it occurs
• Remains a consistent presence when parents can no longer do so

Human connection is the strongest safeguard of a person’s well-being.

For Parents, This Means:

• Peace of mind
• A trusted ally for your son or daughter
• Someone who is there because they care—not just because they are paid

“It gives me hope to know someone will be there—because they want to be.”

Learn More

Discover how Citizen Advocacy can help safeguard your son or daughter’s future—beyond
your own lifetime.

Join us for an information session explaining how Citizen Advocacy works and how it can
support your family.

• Venue: Hume Global Learning Centre – Sunbury
• Date and Time: Sunday, 22 March 2026 | 1:00 pm

To register or ask questions, contact:
David Abela
9744 7378 | 0408 178 614

Refreshments will be available.