Youngcare is an Australian non-government organisation founded in 2005 to assist people between the ages of 18 to 65 with high care needs. Youngcare's programs and projects focus on supporting young people with a disability by providing greater choice in housing and care options. Currently, there are over 6,200 young people with high care needs living in residential aged care facilities. Common types of disability of those supported by Youngcare include cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis or an acquired brain injury.
Mission
Youngcare believe that every young person deserves to live a young life, regardless of their care needs. To ensure every young Australian is living their lives to the full, Youngcare provides accommodation, grants and offers support and information via the Youngcare Connect phone service.
History
Founded in 2005, Youngcare was born out of a woman's battle to find relevant and dignified care. Youngcare's inspiration, Shevaune Conry, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998 aged 26. By age 33, her husband and Youngcare founder, David Conry, could no longer provide the care that Shevaune needed on a 24-hour basis. After searching for an age-appropriate care provider, Shevaune was forced to move into aged care. It was this experience of the disability system that drove David, with co-founders Nick Bonifant, Matthew Lawson and Simon Lockyer, to create Youngcare and provide choice to young people who require full-time care. Shevaune died in August 2012 at age 40.
Projects
Apartments
The first major project completed by Youngcare was a building of 17 individual apartments for people with significant physical disabilities. This project was in response to the number of people with disability living in residential aged care due to the lack of alternative housing options. With community and corporate support, the Youngcare Wesley MissionQueensland Apartments in Sinnamon Park, Queensland opened its doors in 2007. Along with housing young people with high care needs, the aim of the apartments was to provide a replicable model of care as an alternative to institutionalised housing. This model of care is supported and enhanced through research conducted in partnership with Griffith University. In 2012, the second Youngcare Apartments were opened on the Gold Coast, Queensland, housing seven residents in separate units. In July 2015, the Youngcare Wooloowin Share House opened its doors for the first time, with the four new housemates living with more independence and choice than ever before. The Share House is equipped with innovative technology, where lighting, audio, visual, automated doors and blinds are at the touch of a fingertip, allowing for optimal independence. Most recently in June 2017, the Youngcare and MS Queensland Apartments at Albany Creek were officially opened, where eight young people with high care needs call “home”. The two-bedroom apartments are ideal for the eight new residents who can now have their family and friends stay overnight or use the spare room as a study.
The Youngcare At Home Care Grants program began in 2009 and provides grants between $2000 and $10,000 for young people with high care needs that are deemed to be at high risk of entering an aged care facility. Youngcare has facilitated over $5,000,000 of funding, with successful applications for items such as essential home modifications, equipment and in-home support. By 2013 the Youngcare At Home Care Grants program had grown to include application rounds for Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, Northern Territory, South Australia and Victorian Residents.
Youngcare Connect
The Youngcare Connect phone line aims to connect young people with high care needs and their families and carers to relevant support from the Government and the wider health care services sector. Information provided can include appropriate accommodation options, respite, local service providers, funding options, and social and recreational support.
