Almost every family has at least one member (child, grandchild, nephew, niece, parent, grandparent) who will always need help managing personal care and/or finances. And since most of these conditions do not decrease life expectancy, many families are seeking answers on how to provide the best quality of life for their loved ones for the rest of their lives . . . which could, for a young child, be 70 years or longer.

• In 1992, there were 15,580 children ages 6-22 who were diagnosed as having what is now called an Autism spectrum disorder. In 2006, the number was 224,594.
• In 2006, there were an estimated 24.9 million adults in the United States with serious psychological distress.¹
• Approximately 4.4 % of U.S. adults may have some form of bipolar disorder during some point in their lifetime. ²
• In 2006, an estimated 22.6 million people in the U.S. (9.2% of the population age 12 or older) were substance dependent or abusive in the previous year.³

However, government and non-government programs are being reduced and even eliminated due to the strain on state budgets, competition among entitlement programs, and pressures to reduce deficit spending. Once a program is cut, it may be difficult if not impossible to restore it in the future. Even families who are using them now do not trust that the programs that are benefitting their special loved one will be there to provide the needed benefits in the future. They are wisely (and fearfully) looking at alternatives to provide those services, and there are alternatives. 

This issue of the Plan for Aging™ Blog concerns families who must plan for the long-term special needs of children or other family members.  For more information about this kind of planning, please see the Plan for Aging™ Newsletter at http://www.plan-for-aging.com/Newsletters/May-2010-NEWSLETTER.shtml.

¹ http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k6NSDUH/2k6results.cfm

² http://www.pendulum.org/bpnews/archive/001884.html

³ Based on criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV).

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