Find help for your disability through the Support Plan Services (DOP)
A support plan service (in Dutch: dienst ondersteuningsplan (DOP)) helps you, as a person with a disability, in your search for the most suitable support. They will help you find a service or a person who can provide support tailored to your needs. The result is a support plan that sets out all the options available to you and your support system.
Conditions
You can apply for a support plan if you meet the following conditions:
- You have a (suspected) disability.
- You are a resident of Flanders or the Brussels-Capital Region.
- You are under 65. If you are already recognised as a person with a disability by the Flemish Agency for Persons with Disabilities (in Dutch: Vlaams Agentschap voor Personen met een Handicap (VAPH)), this condition does not apply.
- You do not yet have a personal assistance budget (in Dutch: persoonlijk assistentiebudget (PAB)) or a personal budget (in Dutch: persoonsvolgend budget (PVB)), or you do not yet use the services provided by a multifunctional centre.
Exceptions to these conditions may apply. Please contact the VAPH or a support plan service to find out whether you need to meet these conditions.
Procedure
A support plan service provides support for up to one year. In exceptional cases, the support may be extended to eighteen months. The VAPH recognises and subsidises the support plan services. You can find the addresses of these organisations on the VAPH’s website.
Cost
Consultations with the support plan services are free of charge.
Legislation
Government of Flanders Order of 30 September 2011 on the recognition and subsidisation of support plan services and a mentoring organisation for the preparatory phase of people with disabilities.