Building a Long Term Care Team - Personal Advisory Boards / Microboards

Who is going to watch over your disabled child (or advise a disabled adult) once you are gone?

What is your succession plan?

It is a nerve-wracking question and is extra challenging for those who don’t have family or friends nearby to “keep an eye on things”.

… so, why not build a team?

myBoard?

I think I stumbled onto the concept of a disability “microboard” when reading something related to Virginia. The idea is pretty simple. Create a committee of people to act as advisors to support a disabled person through their life.

Even if you have family, this can be helpful. There may be a lot to take on and so having a group of people can lighten the load.

And this doesn’t just have to be for a disabled child or person in formal supported decision-making or conservatorship, it could be set up for anyone and structured to meet there specific need…

… you could argue that many of US could use a “personal advisory board”! :)

It looks like the formal idea got rolling in Canada (I’ve shared some links below)… they’ve (TM)’ed microboard(TM) …

But, there is no reason not to set up one whoever you are, wherever you are if it is appropriate.

It looks like this is essentially setting up a formal “not for profit” board with governance rules…

The formal corporate “stuff” could be templated out…

You don’t need to be in a specific state or jurisdiction, but you might want a lawyer to set one up..

No Local Support Network

Some of us don’t have local family or a support network or supportive family even if they are local… And dealing with disability “stuff” makes things extra difficult.

Would setting up a way for folks to connect to build these kind of “personal boards” be helpful?

There is something to all of this.

Disability is a team sport… so, maybe we should formally build tools to build teams or cooperatives or other ways to more formally and systematically help each other?

Share challenges. Share solutions.

Be there for each other?

I’ll pull together more on this, but I’m very interested in whether something like this would help you… or what are the shortcomings of a “personal advisory board”.

Thinking about the Future

At a minimum, this may help you think about “The Future” before the day the future smacks you in the face.

Even if you have family, you are likely to want to prepare them for what they may be expected to do… and give them warnings about what can go wrong (… the minefields of staying eligible for benefits, protecting income, etc.)

What is your succession plan?

What support pieces do you have in place today?

What is missing?

What else?