Keeping Families Together
Kyle used to live at home with his mother and go the local elementary school. However, for much of the last four years, he has lived in a residential school over 60 miles away from his home. Both Kyle and his mother, Carina, were suffering and living separate lives.
In 2000, using the knowledge and vision gained from Partners in Policymaking, Carina began to dream of a different future for her and Kyle. She had seen how inclusive education could work but Partners introduced her to the idea of individual family support.
With assistance from the Family Futures program, Carina designed a new family support package. She convinced the local authority to transfer funding from a segregated, out of area placement to home-based family support. In doing so, she created the first package of its kind in Scotland.
In Autumn 2001, Kyle finally returned home. The local authority now pays for support staff to help out at home and accompany Kyle to school where he has been welcomed back with open arms.
Copyright © 2002. The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities. All rights reserved.