Service disabled

By Casey Neill
A HILLS disability service may be forced to close due to inadequate funding.
The future of the Yooralla Society of Victoria’s outer east FirstBase program is in doubt after the disability service provider announced it could not continue to subsidise the program.
Yooralla CEO Bryan Woodford said the gap between State Government funding and the program’s expenditure over the past three years meant Yooralla had been forced to subsidise the service by about $300,000. “It’s a great service but it’s chewing up Yooralla’s fundraising at an unsustainable rate,” he said.
FirstBase is a service for young adults with a disability aged 18 and over who are leaving school and need help to make the transition into an adult lifestyle.
Barry Wadsworth said the Ferntree Gully First Base program formed a major part of his daughter Rebecca’s life.
“The options for people with disabilities are very, very limited so we are really happy that Rebecca can come here – I don’t know what we would do without it,” he said.
A Victorian Department of Human Services (DHS) spokesman said DHS provided Yooralla with funding for day program services for 23 people at the Ferntree Gully centre.
Mr Woodford said the DHS was reassessing funding levels for agencies which provide community services on the government’s behalf.
“But the earliest that this can bring new dollars into the program is after the 2009 state budget,” he said. “The parents are asking what happens till then and it’s a fair question.”
He said the service would run until June next year but a decision to continue the program beyond that time would be made after the budget.
Mr Woodford said if Yooralla could not continue the service, it would have to return it to the government so a new provider agency could be found.
However, he said it would be difficult to find someone to take over the facility at current funding levels.