FAQ about LNO
- What is LNO?
- Who supports our work?
- How is LNO different from local associations for Community living?
- What services does LNO offer?"
- How does LNO create a safe and secure future for people with disabilities?
- What is a Personal Network?
- Can other members of my family become involved with LNO?
- What happens if the Circle of Support fails?
- I am separated/divorced from my spouse. Can LNO still help?
- I already have a Trust Fund for my child. Why do I need LNO?
- How can LNO help me plan my will and ensure my financial assets are in order?
- What is Future Planning Consultation?
- How can our family become involved in LNO?
- My child is quite young. How can LNO help?
- How is LNO accountable to families?
- How do I join LNO?
1. What is LNO?
LNO is a registered non-profit charity created by and for families who have a relative with a disability. We have two main functions. We help create a safe, secure and full life for their relative with a disability, and we make a commitment to provide lifetime advocacy and monitoring for people with disabilities.
Lifetime Networks Ottawa helps ensure a safe and secure future by fulfilling the wishes of parents, after they die, or are otherwise unable to. We do this by supporting, monitoring and advocating for their son/daughter for the rest of their lives. Four core values characterize LNO:
- Families should direct the planning for their relative with a disability.
- Friends form the foundation of a safe and secure and enriched life
- Independence from government funding makes us a more effective organization
- People with disabilities have an important contribution to make to our community.
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2. Who supports our work?
Our funds come from four main sources:
- sale of our publications and services
- fees and donations from families
LNO'S fees do not pay all the costs of our operation. LNO is a member-supported organization. We rely on your financial contribution to keep us financially independent.
We do not accept government funding for the simple reason that to be advocates who speak freely for individuals with disabilities and their families we must remain financially independent of government. We are proud of our ability to provide support on our own.
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3. How is LNO different from local associations for Community living?
LNO does not offer or deliver programs or residential or employment services to people with disabilities. LNO complements, but does not replace services and programs offered by local associations. LNO's job is to monitor and advocate for improved services and programs for your sons or daughters and to help families prepare a secure future. Local service providers depend on government for their funding. LNO does not solicit or accept government funds.
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4. What services does LNO offer?
LNO Services include all of the following:
- Assistance to families in developing a Personal Future Plan for their relative
- Creation and continuing facilitation of a loving and caring Personal Network in the lives of the person with a disability.
- Connecting families to others in similar circumstances
- Providing lay advice and referral on alternatives to the current government administered social services.
- Monitoring the quality of programs and services the individual receives, particularly after their parents become infirm or die
- Providing recommendations and advice on home ownership and alternatives to legal guardianship.
- Creating a greater community awareness of the contribution that can be made by people with disabilities
- Keeping families in touch with the latest policy and regulatory issues that may affect them or their relative with a disability
- Exploring "leading edge" service delivery and funding mechanisms on behalf of families and individuals
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5. How does LNO create a safe and secure future for people with disabilities?
First, we listen closely to the individual and the family to gain a thorough understanding of the challenges facing them and of their goals. Then we assemble a group of caring people, which includes the individual, parents and other family members, as well as friends neighbours and acquaintances. When the time is absolutely right, we introduce sensitive professionals to provide advice and support. As a backup, LNO will monitor and advocate for the quality of the individual's life, particularly when the parents are no longer able to. LNO is also an ongoing resource to the individual's Personal Network.
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6. What is a Personal Network?
A Personal Network is a group of caring, dedicated people who are committed to your son or daughter. They become the eyes, ears, arms, legs and heart of LNO. All of us have Personal Networks - people we count on and confide in. People who help us out - our friends, acquaintances and relatives. Unfortunately, many people with disabilities don't experience such support. They may need a little extra help to recruit and maintain a network of friends and supporters that happens naturally for the rest of us. Personal Networks provide LNO with the opportunity to get to know your son or daughter and to work closely with you and your family before a crisis occurs.
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7. Can other members of my family become involved with LNO?
Yes. The Personal Network is a common way for brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins to become involved with their relative. Many siblings welcome their family's participation in LNO because it doesn't place the full burden of responsibility on their shoulders after their parents die.
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8. What happens if the Circle of Support fails?
In the highly unlikely event that a Personal Network should collapse, LNO would dedicate its staff resources to creating a new Personal Network, while providing staff support in the interim. LNO is the formal backup to Personal Networks. To ensure this doesn't happen, LNO facilitators monitor all Personal Networks and ensure the continued involvement of active members.
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9. I am separated/divorced from my spouse. Can LNO still help?
Yes. LNO is sensitive to the living arrangements of all families and treats all information in strictest confidence. Many families in these circumstances find LNO helpful in maintaining communications and developing a common approach among all parties.
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10. I already have a Trust Fund for my child. Why do I need LNO?
LNO can provide your trustees with personal, up-to-date recommendations on the genuine needs of your son and daughter. Through the Personal Networks, we establish intimate connection with your relative. Trust companies do not have the time or ability to build such relationships. Their expertise rests in the area of investment and management of trust funds.
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11. How can LNO help me plan my will and ensure my financial assets are in order?
LNO offers a Future Planning Advisory Service. Although we are not lawyers, estate and financial planners, we do have considerable lay expertise. We can offer tips insights and potential solutions based on the accumulated wisdom of other families. We also work closely with knowledgeable lawyers, trust officers, financial planners, and life insurance companies. We do not endorse any firm, company or individual, but we do refer families to sensitive, informed professionals.
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12. What is Future Planning Consultation?
An LNO consultant will facilitate a comprehensive review of the current state of affairs with regards to you or your relative with a disability. The review will take approximately two hours and will include the following:
- Goal identification
- Housing options
- Guardianship alternatives and decision making options
- Will and estate planning
- Relationship and quality of life considerations
- Identifying a means for securing your plan
A written list of recommendations to provide a safe and secure future for your relative with a disability will be provided.
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13. How can our family become involved in LNO?
Obviously, if you decide to work with LNO to create a future plan for your relative with a disability you will already be involved with LNO. However, if you don't think your family is quite ready to begin the future planning process, or if you are interested in LNO for the other services and benefits it can provide you and your family, or if you are a corporation, non-profit or professional and wish to support PLAN and receive the information and referral supports, you can become a LNO Associate.
As a LNO Associate, you will receive a complete range of services and supports.
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14. My child is quite young. How can LNO help?
At LNO we find that thinking about the future and beginning to plan for it almost invariably makes the present better. We also know that it is never too early to plan your will and estate if you have a child with a disability.
In addition there are a wide range of benefits of becoming a LNO Associate even if you are not ready to begin the future planning process. Perhaps the most important is that LNO provides very effective advocacy services - because we do not solicit or accept any government funding, we can often provide the support you need to access services for your child. Just as critical is the information and updates you receive as a LNO Associate - LNO staff and volunteers have decades of experience in local associations for community living, provincial organizations and, most importantly, most are parents like you. Their collective knowledge and experience covers almost every aspect of supporting a child or young adult in the community.
LNO will always provide you with the latest information on wills and estate planning, government entitlements and restrictions, guardianship and representation agreements, the rules and regulations around non-discretionary trusts, home ownership, individualized funding and a range of other policy issues and parent interests.
Finally, it is important to remember that it is never to early to begin planning. LNO can help you with this right now. For example, LNO can provide you with tips on the use of life insurance to create a trust fund for your child with a disability and offer suggestions for choosing a guardian for your minor children.
LNO brings families together - young and old - in togetherness there is strength.
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15. How is LNO accountable to families?
LNO's constitution mandates a majority of Board members must be families. In addition, LNO has an active parent mentor program which ensures that every family who has a Personal Network for their relative is phoned by a LNO parent on a regular basis. LNO families also meet on their own with our staff to review their satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the organization.
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16. How do I join LNO?
Simply call, write, E-mail or fax us, and we'll send you full details and an application form. Confidentiality is guaranteed.
