It is important to consider how the arrangements you make now for directing your own or another person's supports will continue in the future. 

Circumstances change.  Your health, even your ability or willingness to continue to take responsibility for what you do now, could change over time.  Government initiatives and priorities may also change so that your current arrangements may not be able to continue as they are now.

It is impossible to guarantee that the future will unfold in the way you would like.  But is it possible to do things today that will assist you in planning for the future, remembering that the future really starts now. 

Think about: 

• involving other people in your planning so that they know the vision you have for your life or the person close to you
• broadening contact with people in the community; knowing people who are not in paid support roles
• thinking about people in your personal network, a relative or friend of a friend, who might be good at one aspect of what is involved in directing, monitoring, steering, accounting for and safeguarding your life or the life of your family member
• documenting what you do now to manage the support arrangements; this would at least be a starting point for someone if the need arises before you have made formal arrangements with people to take on particular roles
• making sure that your will and other legal and financial matters are up to date
• talking with your Host Provider about what would happen if you can no longer direct support the way you do now

Click on the following resources for ideas and strategies to help with your succession planning:

• Succession Planning and self-direction includes eight important strategies to help with thinking about the future
• Brothers and sisters and the orders of love, from the InCharge website, outlines some important matters for families to consider.
• Choreographing the Future lists 11 key elements used by the Homes West families to help assure the future for their sons and daughters
• Planning for Now, Tomorrow and the Future outlines the importance of safeguards from a personal and legal perspective
• The right person for the job: creative ways to stretch your budget includes an example of employing a co-ordinator as one part of a risk management plan for the future.
• A document of personal information outlines one way to record important information; add details of your self-directed arrangements
• A journey with people towards self-direction includes suggestions for Host Providers about succession planning 
• Addressing Personal Vulnerability through Planning provides a way of identifying and using intentional safeguards when planning for people with disability and their families.