Carers Return To Work! Yes you, go on, go ...

Well Mr Abbott, this, is a wonderful idea. I'd love to be able to accrue Superannuation, paid holidays, have a lunch break, be eligible for sick leave knowing all along, there is the back up support for my child so that I can return to the work force at the employable age of 51.

(Note: When I Googled "Employed Older Women" to find an image to insert here, I got Liza Minnelli and Julie Bishop and lots of graphs), says it all really!

There was no shortage of beautiful images when I Googled "Employed Women" however.

Gratuitous "Pretty Flowers" image

I could not think of an option more appealing than to be able to be a valued part of society again by way of a well paid work placement! Because we all know, the only person who values a Carer is the person being cared for. Mind you, when that person is your son, sometimes, they don't even appreciate it.

To be able to first and foremost, get a job with the lack of qualifications I have after 11 years at home with my child, (despite my requests over the years for hands-on support so I could stay up-to-date with training or work experience but was denied those opportunities by various Governments, due to the comparative cost), would be a bonus!

To be employed with inclusive work practises, seems like a dream come true, which will allow for the many days or part days I will need to be at home with my sick, disabled child or to attend Physio, Speech, OT, Cardiologist, Paediatric, Paediatric Ophthalmologist, Podiatry, Specialist Dental, Cleft Palate all day Clinics, Pathology, Minor procedures, Disability Parenting Training Days, Sensory Training Days and all the other unforeseen days that will require me leaving work in response to an emergency that nobody else can attend to in relation to my child, who by the way is seen to only have Moderate care needs, this list would be ten times longer for many Carer/Loved one relationships where care levels involve medical procedures. I'm assuming, eventually, the NDIS will cover the cost of all this though … 

Not to mention the Mental Health Days I'm betting I'll need as I adjust back into the work force working 18 hours, 7 days a week, being that I am an unsupported Single Parent Carer. Not only will the pressure of working those hours moving forward take it's toll, keep in mind I have previously been isolated because of my Full Time Carer role, and I can assure you, it has already done my head in.

So, Mr Abbott, explain to me again, how exactly is this going to work without compromising the health and well being of myself, my child and the underpinning structures it has taken me the best part of 11 years of begging, negotiating and manipulating to put in place to support our ever changing sets of circumstance?

Or is this just more of the heavy lifting you obviously feel us Carers have not been doing?

Housing Update

For those of you playing along at home, the situation around our housing has worsened.

If you are not sure what I am talking about, the previous post is here

It has been proven now that despite CH organisation stating that they comply with Housing NSW policies, they have not.

I now have to wait 28 days for the appropriate process around my appeal to unfold while they do an "internal" investigation.

If I don't agree with the outcome of their investigation, then I have to make an appeal to another authority.

See, this would have met our needs perfectly!

At the end of the day, I will miss out on a property (that we have now confirmed can be made safe for LJ) because of the time that will lapse while this due process unfolds as a result of them not taking into consideration LJ's needs for housing around his disability and my care situation, which were specified in our original applications to Housing NSW. A complete disregard for their own policy.

In short, someone didn't read a file, or someone doesn't know the policy, or someone has just made an honest mistake. But when those shortcomings mean that a family will potentially be put at risk of homelessness, does one not just put up their hand and say, "It was me, I made the mistake and I'm sorry. We don't need to waste 28 days, lets just move forward and get these people housed appropriately."

My Happy Ending - When I complete my Community Service Certificate IV next year, all this experience will only help me to do a better job than these people have!

An Australian Family needs our help!

This is a post on behalf of an Australian family that need some help!

The reason every person in Australia should be concerned about this story is not just because these are fellow Australians, but it is a story that could happen to any of us!

I do not mean so much the injury (although that is a possibility too), I am specifically referring to the situation this family now finds themselves in relating to support.

I have had a situation in the past which I described in this post where but for a minimal amount of support I could have got back on my feet, but because I could not get a minimal amount of support, I was pushed into a full paid welfare situation, from which I am still trying to escape.

The Fox Family, who live in South Australia, are now finding themselves in a similar ironic situation.  They want to be as independent as possible, but the system does not allow for that!

No, they need to become fully dependant on a welfare payment rather than receiving some support to assist Sally to return to work!

The welfare/support systems in this country have to change ... Be a part of the change!

If you have ANY connections in your network of friends, colleagues, associates etc whom you think may be able to assist these people to get a HAND UP,  please forward it on!

My Happy Ending: 1st Anthony and Sally will receive a payment package that will actually assist them to move forward. 2nd The whole system will get a revamp!

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Mahatma Gandhi

The section below was copied and pasted directly from the Facebook post with Sally's permission to post it here on my blog and to share it with as many people as possible.

The Fox Family

Anthony came home this weekend with one thing on his mind - to write "his story". With only spelling errors corrected, here it is. Today this has been forward...ed to Today Tonight, A Current Affair, 4 MPs, Adelaide Now and Duncan Basheer Hannon. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been around assisting and supporting us on this journey, we still have a long road ahead.

"My name is Anthony Fox. I am 37 yrs old and happily married to Sally, with two young children Tyson 5 and Madison 7.
On 21 September 2012, I suffered a major stroke and was hospitalised in the Royal Adelaide. The stroke was caused by a torn artery in my neck which released a blood clot to my brain. On the night of my stroke I attended a physiotherapy appointment where my neck was vigorously manipulated, and probably did the damage to my neck. During the week prior to the stroke I presented myself to my local GP with dizziness and fatigue and a headache that had been present for two weeks. My GP recommended that I take some nurofen (anti-inflammatory/pain killers and recommended that I go to the physio for my neck pain.
I was in the RAH for 2 months. Due to the enormity of the stroke and my young age several pieces of my skull and some of my brain were removed on more than one occasion (craniotectomy) to save my life. There was insufficient room in my skull for my swollen brain. To complicate the situation I also contracted a dangerous Golden Staph infection in my head and blood at the RAH, necessitating another emergency operation. The stroke has affected the left side of my body, rendering me unable to walk, leaving me in a wheelchair and for my left arm to not to function at all. The left side of both my eyes has also been affected and my peripheral vision. My thinking skills have also been affected.
From the RAH I was admitted to the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, where I have been a patient for four months and am currently hospitalised. I have reached a point in my rehabilitation where I should be discharged to home and continue my rehabilitation as an out- patient. I still need help to shower, toilet and most other ADLs.
We have been advised there is no funding for a carer even for 16 hrs per week to allow me to go home, and for my wife to be finally able to return to work. If I choose to leave Hampstead without the approved carers hours I will be removed from the system and will no longer be eligible to receive carer support. The government health care system will “happily” pay for me to remain in hospital and take up a bed in the over-crowded hospital system, at more cost to the taxpayer.
The decision not to fund the carer hours has devastated me and my family, and will further delay my recovery. It is blatantly obvious to me that the system is broken. It does not make sense for the health system to continue to pay for my hospitalisation, and not to fund a mere 16 hours of carer support to get me home and speed up my rehabilitation, and allow me and my family to get on with our lives. Prior to the stroke I was a fit healthy and happy man employed at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in Adelaide for 13 years.
I implore that the decision to refuse the funding for a carer to be overturned which will allow me to return home at the end of March 2013. My family and I are struggling with me being hospitalised and I need to go home. Every day away from my family is like a dagger in my heart. I need to go home so we can be a family again. My kids need their dad at home and my wife needs her husband.
I am writing this in the hope that someone out there will hear my story and make something good happen for me.
Thank you."

Jenny Macklin Schmacklin

Once again it seems the point has been sadly missed.

A politician goes on record (or doesn't, more to the point) as having said something stupid and the focus is on the STUPID, not the real point!

We all know the system of Welfare in Australia is broken, we all know that there are those who "take advantage" of the system and its flaws (loopholes), we all may NOT know how hard it is to actually pull yourself out of a deep black hole once you have slipped into it, despite your best efforts not to.

Yes there are those whose expertise in staying on a benefit far outweighs the knowledge of the system that most Centrelink Employees have (as most of them are on contract and don't have permanent jobs either).

There are many scenarios, all different and very individual, but the one thing that single parents have in common, is the obvious, they are single!

Yes, as I said, each situation is different, some people have family to support them, some have good working relationships with the other parent that means the responsibility can be shared (as it should be), some do work and earn a sufficient income to pay for childcare or other types of help (domestic support etc.), but there are many that are simply SINGLE.

The sole parent, the only person who can provide care of any kind to that child or children, they are alone.

I am one of the lucky ones, while I am a single parent who has no hands on support available to me from anywhere else, I have in the past been able to work from home (currently that is not the case), but, as I said, I am luck, because I don't need to be on the Single Parent Payment and, as my youngest child is now 10 years old, I also do not have to be on New Start, because my youngest child has a disability and I am able to be on a different Centrelink payment, until such time as I can re-establish my independence.

Re-establish my independence! That is what the Welfare system is supposed to be there for. To help people get back on their feet, to help those who, usually due to unforeseen circumstances have found themselves in need of some assistance.

We talk about those who cheat the system or "long term unemployed", we talk about fixing the system, but at the core of all this talking is the problem I mentioned at the start of this rant, WE ARE FOCUSING ON THE STUPID!!!

As a Nation, we need to look at why there is a Welfare System in place at all, we need to get back to the basics of helping those who are willing to help themselves and support them in a way that allows them to do that.

I had not intended sharing all of the following, but I think getting some real perspectives on this problem is very important. And so ...

For EIGHT YEARS, (since the collapse of my marriage due to nothing I could have changed, God knows I tried) I have tried many ways of re-establishing my independence.

Up until a year ago, I was self-employed so that I could support my children, I tried to apply for the waiting list for the opportunity to own my own home through a GREAT organisation called Habitat for Humanity Australia (but it was closed due to the length of the list and now I do not qualify as you must be working to be on the waiting list not just receiving a Centrelink payment), I have had to fore go my employment to take care of my kids due to my inability to source any hands on support. Instead they pay me a wage to stay at home with my son a "wage" which is far greater than the cost of the support I required to enable me to do my job as a parent and as a paid full time worker.

If I had been able to received 2 hours a day 5 days a week hands on support, and a respite package to assist in times of crisis through the year, I could have returned to work on a full time basis as I had the capacity to earn a decent living. I could have then paid for my own before and after school care and vacation care, I could have paid substantial taxes, I could have maintained my own private rental accommodation, and possibly through Habitat, eventually owned my own home again, (I am now living in subsidised Community Housing), I could be paying for Speech Therapy for my son as I used to (not sitting on a list waiting for a free service funded by the Government) and I could have retained my dignity, self-esteem and mental health.

As a result of the Full Time Carer status that I now have, I STILL require respite (probably more than I would need if I were working, as work would also provide me with a social outlet which I do not get now).

So there it is, the truth of my situation, I asked the Government for a HAND UP, and they gave me a hand out, which has systematically made my situation worse than I could have ever imagined it to be.

I have also seen on Twitter tonight many other similar conversations that show we are not doing the right thing. We have fully qualified Teachers on New Start simply because they cannot get enough work in the areas they need to work, as they are single parents too.

And let's not mention our Broken Public Housing System, which due to the way it works, only makes people dependant on that service long term.

I hear the cries of, "You can't be doing too badly; you have a computer and the Internet!" I have heard these cries before, a fair call if you have no concept of how the reporting system works with Centrelink.

If you are constantly looking for work or accommodation, in this day and age, the Internet is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. When I was searching for private rental properties, many of the Real Estate Agents will no longer list you for a viewing of a property unless you register on their website, they will not even take your name over the phone, they will also not notify you by text as it is all put through their on line automated email system! Unless you have access to a computer, you miss out. Using the Library computer is not efficient enough as most notifications of property viewings only go out the night before and many are on a Saturday.

Centrelink is also moving to automation. If you go to their office to report your income or change address or report your "looking for work" status, they will sit you down at one of their public computers, sign you up, get you a password etc. and show you how to do it on line there and then, rather than being served at the counter that you just caught two buses to be served at.

And THAT, is where my rant ends.

I have many ideas of how to fix these systems, but will not go on for now.

The Happy Ending I hope to get from all this, is that my experiences over the last eight years, will eventually lead to improving the systems that are so, so broken and the good news for Jenny Macklin and any other Politician who says they can live on the dole is, they cannot prove anything we do not already know by carrying out such stunts, we know the payment for New Start is actually below the poverty line, nobody can live like that, nor should they have to.

What are your suggestions to fix the system?