“All children should live in and be a part of a caring, nurturing and supportive family unit.”

Interpretation

• Families must be given appropriate and sufficient support in order to ensure their children are able to live in their family home.
• Where the family home is not an option, alternate home environments should be considered and suggested to the family.
• C.L.S.C. will not sponsor or support proposals for children’ group homes.
• C.L.S.C. will advocate for children who live in unsafe or unhealthy home environments.
• Children should live in an environment where they can express love and be loved.

STATEMENT #2

“All people are valued individuals with unique characteristics, strengths, and needs.”

Interpretation

• All people are to be considered as unique individuals with individual needs, likes and dislikes.
• No two people are the same.
• Each individual has abilities, desires, and potential.
• Everyone needs emotional support as well as physical support.
• Individuals are to be considered from the point of view of their strengths and not their perceived weaknesses. C.L.S.C. will make every effort to combat prejudice.

STATEMENT #3

“All people must be afforded the choice with respect to where and with whom they live.”

Interpretation

• Residential funding proposals prepared by C.L.S.C. for submission to the S.D. & G. Service Coordination Committee or the Ottawa Regional Office of the Ministry of Community and Social Services must be geared to individuals’ needs and preferences.
• C.L.S.C. will only support the placement of individuals in nursing homes when there is a need for nursing care in order to ensure the person’s health and well being.
• Both children and adults have the right to live in a safe, clean, healthy residential environment where their needs are being met. C.L.S.C. is bound to advocate to remove individuals who are living in abusive residential settings.
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• C.L.S.C. will take every opportunity to reduce the size of the group living arrangements it sponsored in the past, when those options were seen as progressive alternatives to institutions and large group homes.
• Individuals will be consulted and will play an active role in developing their own residential proposal or in considering existing residential options.
• )When an individual being supported by C.L.S.C. staff indicates that he/she wants to move into a residential environment that does not seem to be in their best interest, staff will share the areas of concern pointing out the possible consequences of the decision. The staff will honour the individual’s informed choice.

STATEMENT #4

“All people have the right to participate in the leisure activities of their choice.”

Interpretation

• People are to be supported to make choices.
• People are to be informed of options and potential consequences of the choices they are about to make.
• C.L.S.C. will lobby the Ministry to change policies they may have which restrict peoples’ choices.
• C.L.S.C. will use its policy exemption if agency policies restrict peoples’ choices in any way.

STATEMENT #5

“All people must receive supports and services geared to their specific needs.”

Interpretation

• There is a need to consider ways to individualize supports in order for people to achieve their desired goals.
• Peoples’ opportunities should not be limited by their degree of need.
• There is a need to learn to think outside the box.
• There is a need to be creative in order to overcome barriers of systems and funding.
• People, both adults and children, have a right to be recognized and to receive support, even if it is unfunded support.
• Keep in mind that we are involved in a “work in progress” that may never end, and we must always strive to do better.

STATEMENT #6

“All people must have the opportunity to develop and maintain caring relationships”

Interpretation

• People are to be encouraged to use generic services and attend community events in order to meet people and encourage friendships.
• People who live in C.L.S.C. residential settings are to be encouraged to visit friends and also to invite them home for visits.
• People who live in C.L.S.C. residential settings are to be afforded privacy when they have friends visit.
• People who live in C.L.S.C. residential settings are to be encouraged to stay in contact with family and friends by sending cards and letters and using the telephone. Birthdays, holidays and special occasions are good opportunities to strengthen relationships.
• Belief Statement #6 continued…
• People who are being supported by C.L.S.C., and who are interested in pursuing an intimate relationship with a friend, will be offered information and training should they be interested.
• People who live in shared C.L.S.C. residential settings will comply with C.L.S.C. policies in order to respect the rights of the other person/people they live with.

STATEMENT #7

“All people must have the opportunity for meaningful employment”

Interpretation

• All people are to be given the opportunity to be productive citizens and to be a part of their community.
• Every effort should be made to develop natural supports for people at their places of employment.
• The concept of employment suggest meaningful pay for meaningful work.
• People are to be supported to develop resumes and to learn interview skills.
• Meaningful employment is a means of promoting dignity and independence.

STATEMENT #8

“All people must be afforded financial security”

Interpretation

• C.L.S.C. will advocate at the ODSP branch of the local M.C.S.S. office as well as at the provincial level of M.C.S.S. to ensure that ODSP levels are increased so that people are not forced to live below the poverty level.
• C.L.S.C. will advocate at all levels of M.C.S.S. to ensure that ODSP payments are adjusted in relation to cost of living increases as they occur.
• C.L.S.C. will provide opportunities for individuals and their families to be informed in the areas of Wills and Trusts.
• C.L.S.C. will provide opportunities for people to be trained in the area of budgeting.
• C.L.S.C. will support people in the area of vocational training and job searching in order to provide the opportunity for them to earn other income so that ODSP is not seen as the only secure source of income.

STATEMENT #9

“All people must be supported to exercise their right to make choices, decisions and plans that affect their lives”

Interpretation

• Individuals must be informed of options that will allow them to make choices, decisions and plans that affect their lives.
• Individuals must be made aware that they do have the freedom to make choices and they are to be encouraged to do so.
• Individuals must be explained the course of action available to them when they are not given or they are hindered from making choices for themselves.
• C.L.S.C. has the responsibility to provide opportunities for people to be educated in the area of making choices.
• Members of the C.L.S.C. Management Team have the responsibility to be informed concerning who is legally responsible for making decisions in the lives of the individuals being supported by the agency, particularly in the case of people who cannot make decisions for themselves.
• There is also a need for members of the Management Team to be aware of the function of the Office of the Public Trustee.

STATEMENT #10

“Supports and services within the community must be accessible to all people”

Interpretation

• Attitudes frequently act as a barrier to people. There is a need to educate the general public, including professionals such as doctors, dentists, educators, etc... as to the value of all people, concentrating on their abilities and potential and not on their perceived differences and inabilities.

• Many people who have intellectual disabilities are illiterate. This puts them at a disadvantage not only in areas of learning and leisure reading, but also when it comes to accessing generic services. There is a need for the municipality, retail outlets, generic services and specialized agencies to develop a strategy to accommodate people who are unable to read.
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• Buildings that provide housing, generic services and retail services must be accessible to people who have physical disabilities and limitations. Municipal building codes and by-laws need to reinforce the need for accessibility.

• All children must have the opportunity to attend school in classes with their age appropriate peers.

• All municipal parks and waterfront facilities must be accessible to all people.

STATEMENT #11

“Activities and services that segregate individuals or groups should not be supported”

Interpretation

• C.L.S.C. will not prepare funding proposals for submission to the S.D.G. Service Coordination Committee or the Ottawa Regional Office of the Ministry of Community and Social Services, which congregate or segregate people.
• When people supported by the C.L.S.C. are given options and still choose to attend segregated congregated activities sponsored by other agencies or groups, those choices will be respected.
• The Management and Staff of C.L.S.C. are responsible to be aware of and to present non-segregated vocation, non-vocational, and social/recreational options to people, so they can make informed choices.
• The C.L.S.C. Management Team needs to be consistent in educating agency staff in the area of individualized support.