Services are intended to support a person or family build their wellbeing, capability and resilience to deal with the new and challenging circumstances they are experiencing.

In assessing what services are appropriate to fund the delegate must consider:

• any written report in respect of the person’s needs and life circumstances conducted by DVA;
• any assessment made by a qualified person in relation to the person;
• the nature of the relationship between a related person and the member or former member;
• any benefit or improvement expected in the person's life circumstances;
• any evidence the service results in benefit to a person’s life circumstances;
• whether a similar support is provided by DVA or another government agency;
• the cost of the service and value for money;
• the relative merits of any alternative and appropriate program/service;
• the qualifications/accreditation of the service provider;
• whether the service meets the goals of the family unit;
• any history of support in the program;
• any other matter that the Commission considers relevant.

Example – Child care

Families who access the Package are still entitled to receive child care subsidy through Centrelink. The purpose of child care funding through the Package is to cover any gaps fees.

DVA funds short-term child care through the following programs:

• Under a psychosocial rehabilitation plan, where a lack of child care support is creating barriers to the person being able to access treatment or programs that will help them to manage the impact of their accepted conditions – 6.5.2 Child care assistance through a psychosocial rehabilitation plan
• Under the household services provisions where child care support is required for the proper running and maintenance of the person's household – 7.2.7 of the Rehabilitation Policy Library

Child care provided under the Package is additional to the programs outlined above. While it is not appropriate for a family to receive funding from two sources for the same activity, there may be family circumstances where it would be appropriate to access more than one program at the same time.

For example, a veteran may be accessing one day of child care a week so they can attend a course connected to their rehabilitation goals. The partner of the veteran works on that day. The family becomes eligible for the Package and seeks funding for child care for three days a week, so the veteran’s partner can increase their days at work because they want to improve the family’s financial situation and their mental health. It would be appropriate to fund all three days, provided they were different days to the one day the veteran was accessing funding for. The family could have funding for child care for four days a week from two DVA programs.