Submission No 64
INQUIRY INTO IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME AND THE PROVISION OF DISABILITY SERVICES IN NEW SOUTH WALES
Name: Mrs Michele Nichols Date Received: 9 July 2018
It is the system we navigate as cares that is a burden not my child. My dearly loved son is 15, with many diagnosis, Severe Autism being the main one, he is complex and has not had a full day at school since Feb 2017. We have explored all avenues for his schooling, yet the education department are unable to find a safe solution for him, but they are unwilling to allow him to move on with his life by giving him an early school leavers exemption.
He is the recipient of a NDIS package which we are not allowed to use to support him during the hours that he “should be in school”. In doing so it not only renders me unemployable, but in danger, for he is taller and stronger and I can not manage him alone, I have sustained multiple injuries including broken bones and head trauma, if i should need to access our community it is near impossible, as he has jumped from moving vehicles if something spikes his interest or attached we while driving if he is anxious of the destination ( usually it was school ) He has absconded often he has an assistance dog which tracks him, but sometimes I am unable to keep up and the resources spend by the Local Area Command searching for him must be at the 100 000 mark, he is know by all local members of police. ,
FACS have helped us out a little but this will not continue as id is disabilities not child protection, and beyond their scope. In the past ADHC may have been able step it but they are no longer funded by NSW Government, my eldest child can not live with us for her own safety, and our home has been torn apart no window not smashed no wall not kicked in , some walls have been completely removed, doors have been torn off , multiple appliances destroyed. Due to his behaviour disturbance he has be admitted to the local psychiatric unit, but nothing gets addressed.
We can find suitable accommodation for short term respite and have gone down the path of relinquishment, but again due to ADHC being defunded any suitable safe housing has also disappeared from our region. NDIA will not help secure our home and he has not alternative housing options, he is a danger to himself and the community and parental responsibility seems to the the “go to”.
We are in a political pinball machine, Health will not / can not assist, Education Department continue to stand in the way of any progress, and both state the NDIA should be doing something“ but the “something” they should be doing is not within there own scope. We are caught in a cycle financially as a single income family, we can not secure the car due to the NDIA rules of the age of a vehicle , we considering up grading but a secured loan requires a property valuation - the damage to the property has prevented that.
We love and adore our son, I have invested in him as a human, we have built an amazing team of support workers, but funding is restricted due to education status… So what has to happen, what will it take? Does he get left at the hospital and not picked up, do you what for me to be critically injured? Something is going to give and the burden of responsibility will undeniable land on the laps of the NSW Government.