I began building Inclusive Futures and Special Needs Planning in 2015.  A friend of mine who is an elementary school Special Education Teacher in a small district in West Michigan.  She created a post asking for volunteers for her classroom’s therapeutic horseback riding program.  Not knowing anything about horses, I volunteered anyway.  Around 20 kids came through that first day, and they all had a great time. 

That evening as I reflected on what I saw, I began thinking about what these students’ futures would be like.  Several kids would be able to engage in some level of employment, while others would never be able to work at all.  How would they make it in this world of increasing yearly expenses?

The following week I began talking to parents, teachers, faculty and everyone else that was there.  I asked them what their plans were for the future and what resources they had available to obtain the information they needed.  Their responses revealed their uncertainty regarding future plans. They shared their difficulty in finding resources available to help them with future planning.  In answer to their responses, I decided to design a plan that would serve as a resource for these families.

For the next several months I had almost non-stop meetings with people and organizations. I wanted to learn more about their situations, their goals and the obstacles they had to navigate to reach them.  The more conversations I had, the more I understood how difficult this navigation is.  There is not a “right” way or a “wrong” way to plan for these circumstances.  Every situation is unique, which makes planning extremely challenging.

There is so much information families have to wade through.  Some information applies to them and some does not.  The amount of information available is overwhelming and becomes the biggest hurdle to overcome.  Families start looking for advice and become so confused they simply stop trying.

Inclusive Futures was created to eliminate this information overload.  Inclusive Futures is your resource for the legal, financial, insurance and social security issues you are facing now or will be facing in the future.  At Inclusive Futures we understand how difficult this planning can be.  Studies have shown that out of all the concerns families face, the biggest concern is what is going to happen to their loved one when both parents pass away.  Combine the complexity of of information overload with the fear over what happens to children with the loss of both parents, and circumstances can quickly spiral out of control.  We are here to walk you through every step of your journey as you plan your loved one’s future.