Two years after it was closed "for good", Peta Kennedy is overjoyed that historic Lady Lawley Cottage in Cottesloe will be reopening to again provide services and respite care for children with complex needs.
The Red Cross has announced disability service provider Rocky Bay will take over the site's lease for 20 years on a peppercorn rent from April 2023.
In 2020, the Red Cross closed the cottage, which it had been gifted in 1945, leaving some families with nowhere else to go as they warned the same combination of skilled medical and respite care did not exist elsewhere.
That proved to be the case for Ms Kennedy and her husband Francis.
Closure left big gap for family
Their son Thallaich has autism, is largely non-verbal, suffers from epilepsy and needs around-the-clock medical care.
"He's been without care since they closed," Ms Kennedy said.
"So he's done a little bit of holiday [care] but that's only from 9-3."
Ms Kennedy is a member of Friends of Lady Lawley Cottage and was part of a committee that worked with prospective service providers to let them know what they wanted.
"When we were going through and talking with all the companies, that was the number one thing, it has to be respite," she said.
"And complex needs; respite services for complex needs."
Importance of respite
Rocky Bay plans to start offering early intervention and therapy services, including day and holiday respite from April.
It will also consult with families on the other types of services they need, particularly respite care.
"For example, we know respite services are important and needed for families in our community," Rocky Bay chief executive Michael Tait said.
When the Red Cross closed Lady Lawley Cottage for good, it said the COVID-19 pandemic had reduced the number of children using the service from an average of 18 to two, and not enough families had taken up their offer of out-of home care, rendering it "no longer viable".
Since then, the Red Cross has worked with former users of the site, families, peak bodies, disability providers, and other interested groups on the best way for Lady Lawley Cottage to benefit children with disabilities and their families.
It then ran an expression of interest process to choose a new provider to run the cottage at a nominal lease fee of one dollar per year.
Parents welcome 'local' operator
Ms Kennedy said Rocky Bay was a very good choice.
"It's fantastic in the fact that it's a local organisation that really has a long-term tie into the disability sector and the community," she said.
"So it's not like it's an eastern states company that has come in."
Julie Fullagher's severely disabled and medically dependent son Jamie went to Lady Lawley for 14 years before it closed.
Jamie is now 18 and so will no longer be able to access its services when it reopens.
But Ms Fullagher said it was very good news that it was reopening for other children and their families.
"I would absolutely love to see it open up again for other families, like we did, because it's tough," she said.
"It's really important to have those back ups, when you really do need a break."
