Materials For a Disabled Toilet
Grace Homestead is a facility in the Lockyer Valley, which caters specifically for mothers who are struggling with a substance use disorder and mental health condition.

The facility will enable a mother, with up to two children, to seek treatment while continuing to care for her children (up to 10 mothers and 20 children per year). Only one similar centre operates within Queensland leaving a gap in service provision to this population.

Capacity for parenting is often extremely limited in parents with a substance use disorder and intervention via Child Safety Services can result in the child being placed in foster care while the parent seeks help or continues to struggle with addiction.

In addition to substance use rehabilitation and mental health therapeutic intervention, the Grace Homestead programme will provide mothers with parenting training to assist to develop skills to become effective parents.

Where a need has been identified, children will also receive therapeutic intervention if deemed necessary. Often the provision of a safe, caring, and consistent environment can be enough to reverse the detrimental effects of living with a parent who has a substance use disorder.

The provision of a disability toilet is a council requirement for Grace Homestead to provide the rehabilitation service. However, having disability access will allow them to provide the service to people who have a disability, and also to employ people with a disability.

The grant funds will be used to purchase materials for the disability toilet. This will include the building materials, the toilet, and the disability specific railing and signage.

The UCF Board were pleased to approve this grant to Grace Homestead to complete the disability toilet and allow the facility to open. This subsequently enables a programme which has the potential to rehabilitate 10 women per year. In addition, up to 20 children will also benefit from the program.