The Gateway team would like to bring to your attention an innovative program that we feel should be replicated nationally.

The Gateway team would like to bring to your attention an innovative program that we feel should be replicated nationally. It’s called the Older Parent Carer program and its aim is to support ageing parent carers with dependent adult children.

The program is available via a number of community service providers throughout NSW and is funded by Ageing, Disability and Home Care, NSW Department of Human Services.  

Community Care Northern Beaches (CCNB) in Sydney is one such service provider and Case Manager Celia Fakhoury is keen to get the word out about the Older Parent Carer Project her organisation offers. The CCNB Older Parent Carer Project (OPC) covers the Lower North Shore, Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai, Ryde and Hunters Hill, as well as the Northern Beaches.

The project offers holistic case management for carers over the age of 60, or 45 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers who are caring for their adult son or daughter with a disability. The OPC assists and supports these carers to maintain their caring role for as long as possible and where needed, can refer and link to relevant community support services to help achieve this.

One of the major aims of the project is developing a futures plan for the family. Families do NOT have to be in current crisis in order to be referred! Anyone can refer, including carers themselves.
The OPC can provide older parent carers with information about supported accommodation services (both traditional options as well as possible alternative housing arrangements), health care information, and information on legal issues such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney and guardianship to enable them to make decisions regarding future care for their son or daughter with a disability.

“In my capacity as a case manager and intake person, I am responsible for promoting this fantastic project,” Celia told Work ‘n’ Care. “After seeing the article about Alexandra, aged 70 (from the March 2nd 2010 issue of Work ‘n’ Care) I really wanted to get in touch and let your readers and other service providers know about us.

“The Older Parent Carer Project has now been in operation for close to four years, including the initial two-year pilot phase. We thought it would be timely to provide an update on the progress of the project and the sustainable and positive outcomes that have been achieved for older parent carers and their sons and daughters.

“We have had some great outcomes on the Older Parent Carer Project over the last few years, including the successful development of comprehensive care plans that detail the transition from parental care. In many cases, we have facilitated this plan to fruition.

“We have also been addressing issues such as facilitating emergency care, establishing social, formal/informal networks, accessing flexible respite, assisting older parent carers to develop realistic and sustainable future plans and accessing drop-in support.

“We have formed some successful collaboration with other organisations in order to provide specialised, tailor- made support including independent living skill training and capacity building, specialised home assessment and modification and linkage into alternative accommodation options.

“I am happy to speak with service organisations about this project or speak directly with families in my region who want to access this project.”

You can contact Celia on 02 9979 7677 or email her at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it