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KindPath Collective Inc

Consent and Capacity Policy

Version 1.0 | Effective: 29 August 2026 | Review: 29 August 2027 | Owner: Director

1. Purpose

To ensure consent is genuinely informed, specific, and revisitable — not a single signature that’s treated as covering everything that follows — and that decision-making support respects a participant’s legal capacity.

2. Legislative and standards basis

  • Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW) and NSW Trustee & Guardian framework, where a participant has a appointed guardian or financial manager.
  • UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 12 — equal recognition before the law and supported decision-making.
  • Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) / HRIP Act 2002 (NSW) — consent to collect, use and disclose information.
  • NDIS Practice Standards — informed choice.

3. Policy statement

Every adult is presumed to have capacity to make their own decisions unless there is a formal legal finding otherwise. Where a participant’s communication style or cognitive profile makes a decision harder to express, KindPath’s obligation is to adapt communication and take the time needed — not to treat difficulty communicating as absence of capacity.

Consent at KindPath is: - Specific — consent to one thing (e.g. sharing information with a support coordinator) is not consent to something else (e.g. a photo being used publicly). - Informed — given after the participant understands, in language and format that works for them, what they’re agreeing to and what the alternatives are. - Ongoing — can be withdrawn at any time, and is actively re-checked for anything significant (a new activity, a new person involved in support), not assumed to carry forward indefinitely from an intake form. - Free — given without pressure, including subtle pressure from a worker the participant has a personal relationship with or feels they don’t want to disappoint.

4. Procedure

  1. Each specific consent (information sharing, photos/recordings, involvement of a new person in support, a new activity) is recorded separately, dated, and revisited at review.
  2. Where a participant has an appointed guardian or financial manager for a relevant decision area, that person’s consent is sought for decisions within their authority, while the participant is still included and consulted as fully as possible.
  3. Where capacity for a specific decision is genuinely in doubt, the Director seeks guidance rather than KindPath making an assumption either way — including, where appropriate, referral for a capacity assessment.
  4. Workers are trained to notice and name situations where a participant might be agreeing to something to avoid conflict or please the worker, particularly relevant in a dual-relationship (family-member worker) support arrangement, and to check consent more carefully in those situations, not less.

5. Roles and responsibilities

  • Director: ensures consent practices meet this standard across every participant file.
  • Workers: seek and record specific consent; never assume it extends further than what was actually agreed.

6. Related documents

Information Management and Privacy Policy · Person-Centred Supports Policy · Independence and Informed Choice Policy

7. Review

Annually.