Parents must make the rules - since providers do not make the workers do the right things, workers do not take interest in the participants needs, and the providers do not teach support workers how to treat clients and how to look after them. They only have eyes for the money they make out of our vulnerable children. Why call them support workers then? Managers and CEOs largely business people their main purpose is profits. They do not care about each clients differing needs. We parents need to make them care - or withdraw our funding from that provider - and make them aware that we would take that funding elsewhere. Otherwise our children are always at risk for being harmed or neglected, due to this lack of real care by these organisations and workers or their lack of interest in our child as a person. A living breathing person who needs to feel respected and cared about. R E S P E C T. Respect. Often on the trains and shops in Sydney I see workers out with a 'client' they basically ignore or treat with disdain! Those workers should not be in the job. For shame it's heartbreaking. I always tell my son's workers he knows what you are saying even though he can't speak to make them realise he is listening and is still a person with feelings. It's about equality. Why should a disability worker look down on the person they are being paid to work with? Even discriminate they don't deserve the job.
Health and safety is missing in the disabilities equation when in actual fact health and safety laws do apply to disabilities and to the way workers treat or mistreat, harm, neglect of allow them to die is unlawful if occurs. For some reason it never makes it to court very often. Lack of evidence always cited - but there are lack of restraints and education in disabilities of the providers. They can do what they like.
The recent death of a disability man in care at Aurora disability services – due to the provider having no locks on the house to stop him running away and not supervising him properly so that he was killed by car – has seen a judge step up and say he will make an example of that provider allowing a litigation against it. About time.
The house where the man was being ‘cared’ for did not have locks on the doors even though the organization knew who tended to run away. They also did not let him watch Tv or have drinks of pepsi which helped him to settle down and regulate his behaviours. Did they do anything about health and safety for this person at all? Why did they not care for him properly - were the workers so uneducated, and untrained that they did not know they should lock the doors and windows?
Noted in the article by Miklos Bolzer (June 26th 2024 Leader news)
"Aurora Community Care has been accused of failing to comply with its obligations after a 38-year-old man left his Queensland residence in March 2023 without the knowledge of two on-site care workers.
The man was then fatally hit by a car.
One worker had fallen asleep at the time and the other heard the back door open but did not investigate, according to court documents filed by NDIS Quality and Safeguards commissioner Tracy Mackey."
The article also noted
"The man had been diagnosed with an intellectual disability and various other medical conditions, and required round-the-clock supervision by two support workers.
Aurora knew the man would try to leave the premises and that there were no locks on his doors preventing him from doing so, court documents said.
As well as this, the company allegedly restricted the man's access to Pepsi and TV without the proper approvals, knowing it would increase the likelihood he would engage in harmful behaviours."
Those workers - two of them - thats alot of funding for a two workers to one person care - were paid to look after this vulnerable man they signed a contract to look after, yet they failed to look after him when he needed two workers in the first place. Obviously he was very needy and must be kept safe with two workers. They did not even try to keep him safe - nor the organization with its failure to put locks on doors.
How could they be so negligent and call themselves a disability provider? Why doesnt the NDIS check these houses and organizations properly. Its not use saying sorry when the NDIS could be preventing and stopping all this harm. Really it should be a manslaughter case. The NDIS waters it down and says sorry. They are not sorry enough If the judge did not take this organization to task then the parents by rights should take the NDIS to court for being vicariously liable for what happened to this man in one of their providers care - their registered provider. As it is the judge is making an example of the organization which is now being sued.
We parents have to step up and make the rules as the providers are not doing the right things by our children and adult children. We must make the rules and make them do the right thing or tell them we will report them regardless of what happens or withdraw our funding from them and refuse to pay should they continue to ignore the what we stipulate our children need in their care. We must protect our lambs as the NDIS is not doing a good enough job.
Safeguarding our children-
Parents of disability children who stay at respite or care or go to day programs need to write up explicit clear instructions of how they want their children treated, and what workers must do in each situation while looking after them (since workers basically know nothing and will do what suits them you must set the rules and demands) the parent can demand the support workers and providers sign and be accountable for not carrying out what you asked of them with your child.
There is no law enforced for protecting our nonverbal and vulnerable children we must set the rules as the parents and make the demands since we are paying the provider our children's funding. We in essence are the employer or contractor of providers to look after our children.
Parents must police the disability providers since the NDIS is not. The NDIS should shut down any providers who do not provide proper health and safety and do not listen to the instructions that have been given to them for the clients. But the NDIS does not. Parents need to give out those instructions themselves to cover this now regardless of the client profile – write your own instructions saying exactly what your child or adult child needs and what is dangerous for them.
Make demands on the providers you use as no one else is policing them. Give a list of your instructions and demands and make all workers have to sign them – this makes them liable should they ignore what you have given them. I do this for my son. Tell them they are liable if they do not follow what you have told them.
Make every worker have a copy, especially a hard copy of your instructions as they do not read them properly on their phones for sure. If anything happens you have warned them. You can litigate against them if they fail to follow what you said and your child has an accident or harm. This is the only way we can safeguard our vulnerable ones at present no one else is looking out for them in respite or programs we have to step up ourselves.
Until there are proper regulators who check on disabilities houses and care the parents are the only ones who can make the safeguards and we must as no provider can ever be trusted no matter how much they say they care, including the workers. It’s a job to them its money our children are worth more than that. Health and safety is meant to be enforced in disabilities yet it appears to be overlooked or ignored. Always is the need for evidence please sign my petition for cctv cameras to be made mandatory in disabilities. change.org/disabilitycameras
All the best
Anndrea x
#disabilitylivesmatteroz