J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2020;00:1–13. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jar | 1 Published for the British Institute of Learning Disabilities © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1 | INTRODUCTION This paper sets out a systematic review of empirically evaluated intervention studies and structured models/ frameworks of future care planning for adults with intellectual disability by family carers. The failure to adequately plan for when they are older is one of the key barriers to successful ageing for people with an intellec- tual disability (McCallion & Nickle, 2008). Given that the majority of families intend to provide lifelong support at home for loved ones with intellectual disabilities and that people with intellectual disabilities themselves largely wish to remain in the family home (McConkey, McConaghie, Barr, & Roberts, 2006), it is essential that families engage in future care planning "if crisis situations are to be avoided, particularly the double shock… of losing their home at a time when they are also bereaved" (Gorfin & McGlaughlin, 2004). Furthermore, the need for general engagement in future plan- ning is exacerbated by macro-level factors of ageing populations and post-institutionalization policy and service contexts which will likely lead to more people with intellectual disabilities age- ing in a family care environment in the future. At the same time, increased life expectancy for people with intellectual disabilities (Bigby, 2008; Burke, McCallion, & McCarron, 2014; Coppus, 2013; De Winter, Bastiaanse, Hilgenkamp, Evenhuis, & Echteld, 2012; McCallion, Hasting, & McCarron, 2014) has further emphasized the dual issues of supporting the capacity of ageing parents to continue caring while preparing older adults with intellectual Received: 26 June 2019 | Revised: 24 February 2020 | Accepted: 28 March 2020 DOI: 10.1111/jar.12742 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Approaches to and outcomes of future planning for family carers of adults with an intellectual disability: A systematic review Damien Brennan 1 | Darren McCausland 2 | Mary Ann O’Donovan 3 | Jessica Eustace-Cook 4 | Philip McCallion 5 | Mary McCarron 6 This paper is part of a research initiative “A participatory action research pilot study to enhance long term care planning for older people with an intellectual disability in Ireland and their families” funded by the Irish Research Council Research. 1 School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland 2 Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland 3 Intellectual Disability and Inclusion, School of Education, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland 4 Librarian (Library), Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland 5 Temple School of Social Work, College of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA 6 Ageing & Intellectual Disability, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland Correspondence Damien Brennan, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. Email: dbrennan@tcd.ie Funding information Irish Research Council Background: People with intellectual disabilities are living longer, with family homes and family caregivers increasingly identified as a key support to this ageing popula- tion of people with intellectual disabilities. Method: This systematic review sets out existing evidence from empirically evalu- ated intervention studies of future care planning for adults with intellectual disability by family carers. Results: This systematic review identified a scarcity of systematic approaches to future care planning for adults with intellectual disabilities and their family carers. However, evidence from the review suggests positive outcomes for families once they engage in a future planning process. Conclusions: Contemporary social policy orientation, which emphasizes reliance on families to provide care, along with an ageing population of people with intellectual disabilities, and diminishing caring capacity within family networks, suggests an ur- gent need for a more expansive research base that evaluates approaches to support- ing adults with intellectual disabilities and their family carers to plan for their futures. KEYWORDS ageing with intellectual disability, family carers, future planning