Care Finders service is there for vulnerable Australians.
One of the biggest challenges for elderly Australians, when the time comes, is to arrange care services.
For many, there are partners, children, grandchildren, or friends who can take the lead in this situation. Others, however, have nobody to turn to.
This is where the free care finders service comes in. It exists to support vulnerable people to learn about, apply for, and set up support services.
The care finder service is not available to everyone. It is specifically for vulnerable older people who need intensive support to access aged care and other local services.
To receive care finder support, a person must:
- have no carer or support person who can help them, or
- not have a carer or support person they feel comfortable or trust to support them, and
- be eligible for government-funded aged care.
In addition, they should have one or more of these reasons for needing intensive support:
- have difficulty communicating because of language or literacy problems
- find it difficult to understand information and make decisions
- be reluctant to engage with aged care or government
- be in an unsafe situation if they do not receive services.
If someone who meets these criteria requires support, then a local care finder organisation can connect them with a dedicated care finder.
The care finder will visit them, usually in person, at their home or another place they would like to meet.
The care finder will ask questions to understand the person’s situation and support them to work through the steps to address their needs.
They can help someone with:
- talking to the Federal Government’s My Aged Care service on their behalf and arranging an assessment
- attending and providing support at the assessment
- finding and short-listing aged care providers in their area
- completing forms and understanding aged care service agreements
- checking-in once services are up and running to make sure everything is OK
- solving other challenges and connecting to supports in the community, such as health, mental health, housing and homelessness, drug and alcohol services, and community groups.
If someone doesn’t meet the criteria for this service, other support options are available.
Resources
My Aged Care Care Finder https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/help-care-finder
