They thought they were safe…. Carl and Melissa The continued court case Sunnyfields disabilities house in Western Sydney the abuse and violence between 2018 and 2019 and the need for CCTV cameras or more of our children and adult children will be hurt behind the scenes in disabilities by those who do not care about them at all…money being the main motivation

(sign my Petition change.org/disabilitycameras)

     I recently wrote about the boy Carl (replaced name used) who was blind and autistic also in a wheelchair, who was harmed in a accommodation house at Sunnyfields and the charges against the worker alleged to have hurt this vulnerable boy, were dropped even after a witness (another worker there) came forward and exposed what had happened to Carl who was also non verbal being punched and dragged by his hair backwards off his wheel chair…his mother heard it for the first time in court because she never knew what had happened to him there, she was traumatized and shocked by what she heard was done to her son, never knowing any of it, and the brave worker also exposed the lies by other workers who made up stories about Carl being difficult and hard to manage when he was not doing that at all.

     Incredibly the Magistrate dropped the charges (May 2021) in the proceedings. Now in August 2021 the case again being investigated as Carl was not the only one there who was hurt but also a girl called Melissa who had multiple disabilities was dragged naked through the house by the wrists by a worker. Sunnyfields acknowledged this week at the commission that it failed to protect three residents with profound disabilities (ABC News 28 May 2021 Emma Machan) the two residents mentioned here still fear for their safety and still live there as they have no where else that will take them despite the two support workers being sacked who did this violence against them. The fear and trauma never leaves a person once they have been harmed and it should not happen in the first place. I remember when my son got hurt a second time at a different provider with deep punches to the arm at a day program and the manager said to me well that’s not bad for three years. I stared at her incredulously as it shouldn’t happen at all! They expect your kids to get harmed? Why? How dare they.

     A report by the organization Sunnyfields, chief executive described a pattern of behaviour by the two workers as “staff bullying, racism, intimidation, deceit, absconding from duties, not adhering to client schedules, cover-up, condonement of laziness and falsifying records” could it be any worse? Only because other brave workers came forward was this dealt with otherwise it would still continue with no cameras and no accountability by those who work in disabilities ‘care’.
Another witness to the royal commission, was Eliza (false name) who gave evidence about her sister Melissa who is 23 years old and has multiple disabilities as well as PTSD and Autism, Eliza told the commission that when Melissa was young she was mistreated at a school and kept in a cage by teachers….this is so horrifying I cannot comprehend how teachers could be so cruel. I am crying as I write this. Melissa although much loved by her mother, was put in residential care by her mother because she ran away at night from home and her mother was worried about her safety. At Sunnyfields the sister, Eliza became concerned at a head injury on Melissa, and bruised eye, and broken finger, how could this happen and no one says anything? It is kept quiet. With no cameras those who hurt the vulnerable are hidden from view.
Eliza made multiple complaints to Sunnyfields about her sisters injuries and other Agencies…including the NSW Omsbudsman, and told the inquiry the group home had a ‘culture of blame’ “You couldn’t raise an issue without someone being offended” she said
     In 2019 an anonymous tip off about the two support workers behaviours, who are accused of harming these clients Melissa and Carl, was made to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Sophia the mother of Carl also lodged a formal complaint. Sunnyfields terminated the employment of both staff members, one in December 2019 and the other in January 2020.
     Police charged both support workers, but the Royal Commission heard a magistrate dismissed both cases due to insufficient evidence! Again, without cameras there is not enough evidence to convict people of their charges when they are reported. If indeed it does get reported! It is a culture of coverup in disabilities generally when all assaults occur and even in disabilities classrooms in schools again without cameras there is no evidence of what happens to children especially when they are non verbal.
     The inquiry was told the family members and residents never received an apology from Sunnyfield about the incidents and were not offered any compensation or counselling. It would be great if these things actually did happen and right was done for families instead of the usual denial and hiding of evidence. It noted in the article that Sunnyfield chief executive Caroline Cuddihy faced three days of questioning over the incidents at the group home from 2017 to 2020. She expressed ‘regret and deep sympathy’ for the pain caused.
      Questioned about Sunnyfields employment process and the hiring of one of the support workers Ms Cuddihy described him as a ‘con artist’.
How many of these con artists exist in the disabilities sector as carers? So good at lying and pretending they care or saying our children did something bad or had bad behaviours when they didn’t or blaming bruising on the vulnerable person who cannot even speak and say who really hurt them? For shame.
     Ms Cuddihy admitted she had not met with the families of the residents and had not apologized to them prior to the evidence at the royal commission.
     In evidence by an investigator Jennie Piaud, appointed by Sunnytfield to look into the complaints about the home in 2019, she told the inquiry the house was in crisis and described the culture as ‘distrustful and divisive’ and one of the more dysfunctional workplaces. Interviews with staff members by Ms Piaud revealed that one of the support workers ‘bad mouthed’ the relatives of the residents and called them ‘bitches’
The families still say now 2021 that they don’t really know the truth and are still concerned. So sorry for them. I know what it feels like. Without the CCTV cameras you never really do know the full truth and you live in constant anxiety. Both Eliza the sister of Melissa, and Sophia the mother of Carl told the inquiry they asked Sunnyfield to install CCTV in communal areas of the home so the treatment of their loved ones could be monitored.
     Ms Cuddihy of course said Sunnyfield had sought legal advice about the cameras in the house but it was a ‘vexed issue’ . Who does it vex? These vulnerable children and people need protecting! It only vexes those who want to keep any wrong or harm done to those in disabilities a secret. By law they are allowed cameras, but to cover themselves they wont do it. Ms Cuddihy said it needed deep consideration in the way that it would be done so that it does not disadvantage the clients and their personal privacy and dignity”

     Reality is that the vulnerable are more disadvantaged by not having cameras to keep support workers and management accountable for how they treat them – when it is bad treatment. The ‘privacy and dignity’ excuse has long worn out its rhetoric like a broken record. How can punching someone or dragging them naked through the house be respecting the client’s dignity? – there is no dignity there or even privacy since everyone else saw it….the only privacy it gives is for the workers to hurt them privately where no one can hear their cries or see the attack.

     For shame again how could they be so cruel? These people and ‘con artists’ who hurt the vulnerable need to be thrown out of the care industry. Doing a mere six monMth course is even less than a beauty course and childcare is two years or more – we have the wrong people looking after our most vulnerable and unless this changes the only one to protect at present is cameras.
     They need to be made mandatory in disability house, programs and school classrooms where assaults remain hidden and unreported unless other workers speak up who are invariably sacked.
Ms Cuddihy said Sunnyfield has no plan to introduce CCTV there and she would welcome the royal commission’s direction on the issue. A likely story by her to sound like she cares. Most of those CEOs do not, but are running their business for the money like a business and not because they care.
     Ms Cuddihy was also questioned about an eviction notice servced on Melissa in 2018 as a result of her sister Eliza’s “personal grievances” with Sunnyfield. No one wants their sister bruised, broken and naked dragged through a hallway like Melissa was. It is beyond comprehension what kind of monster the worker was who did this. Of course she had personal grievances about what happened to her sister and then they try to evict Melissa! Attacking the victim, blaming her and then trying to get rid of her because someone reported them. After not finding anywhere else to put her sister, a mediation was done with Sunnyfield and Melissa remains there.

       Sophia mother of Carl says she still doesn’t feel Carl was safe, even though the two culprit workers had been sacked “it’s a culture of coverup. I’m sorry to say, because we get told stories that are smoothed over and so we don’t react as badly….I think we don’t really know the truth, and that’s the thing that concerns me.”
     That is the thing that concerns us all as parents of non verbal disability children and adults children without cameras we cannot never know the real truth or see proper justice for it. The workers got away with it! They were sacked but not convicted of their assaults on the most vulnerable people who could not even tell anyone what happened and suffered wrongly in care. This is so wrong. We need cameras to know the truth of all incidents! Who hurt our children and how.
     I also recommended when I reported my son’s incidents to the Royal Commission the need for CCTV or these assaults and lack of accountability will continue.

     Stand with me on 3Rd December 2021 at Sydney town hall 12PM AND MARCH TO HYDE PARK WITH PLACARDS to promote public awareness of the need for CCTV cameras in disabilities and make a demand for the protection of our children who are vulnerable even as adults - We must be their voice… RAISE IT UP!
Anndrea Wheatley x

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