Laying Community Foundations for Your Child with a Disability: How to Establish Relationships That Will Support Your Child After You're Gone [Paperback]

Linda Stengle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

This practical guide shows families of children with developmental disabilities how to establish a network of non-paid people that can provide lasting relationships for their son or daughter. Parents discover, step-by-step, how to navigate the human side of estate planning. And, they find out how important it is to begin this process as early as possible in the life of their child. With the help of checklists and charts, parents learn how to assess their child's needs, interests and existing relationships.

Editorial Reviews

Review

One of the most frightening scenarios for parents of disabled children is the unknown aftermath of their own death - who will care for their adult children then? There is a long-term care crisis in the US for disabled adults, due to a variety of integrated factors: limited choices, expense, discrimination, to name a few. In Laying Community Foundations, author Linda J. Stengle, a long-term care consultant and former director of a private adult residential facility, provides a fresh workable plan for these parents. Surprisingly, Stengle says big trust funds designed to ensure long-term care offer no guarantee that an adult disabled child will be afforded a happy and productive life. The best way to provide that kind of life for your disabled child is to encourage and even demand that they form solid relationships within their communities, beginning with churches, neighborhood associations, schools and even businesses. "Obviously, if you have the financial resources, money can help make your child's life more secure after you die," writes Stengle in the book's Introduction. "However, it is all too easy to have those funds drained by the government to reimburse the cost of maintaining your child in a group home, or . . . to attach the money to a lifestyle that doesn't meet your child's needs." Chapters in the book address specific ways to help disabled children, teenagers and adults establish these crucial long-term relationships, offer insight into relationships with siblings, give general time frames for accomplishing the various steps in a long term care plan, and offer examples and checklists. One particularly enlightening chapter, 'What Have Other People Done In My Situation?' gives readers a peek into the lives of several disabled adults, who have, with the help of their families, established firm and rewarding ties with their communities. Laying Community Foundations is a realistic, yet reassuring guide to help parents let go with confidence, and their disabled children embrace the at once frightening and exhilarating possibilities of adult life. -- From Independent Publisher

About the Author

Linda J Stengle

Product Details

• Paperback: 217 pages
• Publisher: Woodbine House; 1 edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933149670
• ISBN-13: 978-0933149670
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,999,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.