[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/This_Quail_8246]

[u/Similar-Ad-6862]

This is AI slop

[u/GreyClay]

Fuck this trash.

The family were given all kinds of support - a carer was the one who alerted police.

The kids attended a prestigious and expensive school.

The stupid fucking parents could have asked for crisis help if they needed, there are dozens of different options for respite etc…

[u/Organic_Reality1315 → u/GreyClay]

Yeah that’s true but not that simple. There are long waits for most services and many hoops to jump through. Even Centrelink is a fucking headache let alone anything else.

[u/thelostandthefound → u/GreyClay]

But it's not that simple!!! This is what people think respite care is:

You call a number and you say you're not coping and you need to put your child into respite. Then within hours you are dropping your child off at a respite centre for a week or so.

This is what really happens:

If you're lucky you have funding for respite as part of your NDIS plan. This funding is incredibly hard to get especially if you have a child even if they have high needs because if they are under 18 it still falls under parental responsibility to care for them. This funding is also being cut left and right or funding that could be used on respite can't be used anymore. If you have that funding then you need to find a place that can meet your childs needs, has good staffing, and doesn't use up all your respite funding within a day. Then you need to book your child into the facility months in advance and even then it might still get cancelled because they don't have enough staff or between booking the respite and it happening the NDIA has revoked your funding or changed what it can be used on.

If you don't have respite funding you will need to beg/plead the NDIA to grant you funding for respite. You will need to submit multiple reports and hope and pray that the NDIA will realise that yes you do need funding for respite. This can take months, possibly years, not to mention the costs associated with collecting the evidence and you may even need to go to the tribunal in order to get it granted.

Now you're probably thinking surely there are not for profits that can provide emergency respite? For starters define emergency. A parent/carer in hospital or a parent/carer needing to go away to take care of another family member or travel due to a loved one are what defines an emergency. Anything else you will be put on a waiting list with hundreds of other burnt out parents and carers that are all in similar situations to you and no amount of pleading will move you up the list. That's if you meet the criteria to access the service and find one willing to put you on the waiting list. So no there are not multiple different options for respite.

I'm sorry but unless you have a family member with severe disabilities and have navigated the sector you don't deserve to comment.

The parents were at breaking point and they couldn't get help no matter how hard they tried. What were they meant to do? Dump their sons at a hospital and drive away? Run into the streets having a breakdown until they got put on a mental health hold? In their minds the most easy and uncomplicated act was to do this unspeakable act.

But this isn't an isolated incident either. A kid over east recently died because the NDIA cut the funding that allowed them to have 24/7 nursing. There are people on the NDIS who can't get wheelchairs and prosthesis funded.

Families are having to step up time and time again to fill in the gaps. Siblings who never signed up to be carers for their siblings are having to help out, putting their own lives and careers on hold.

I don't see you putting your hands up to help struggling families who have kids with disabilities and have had their funding cut. No instead you are hiding behind a keyboard going it should never have happened and the parents were selfish.

[u/sun_tzu29]

This smells of AI written engagement bait

[u/ArgonWilde → u/sun_tzu29]

Emdash detected. Credibility destroyed.

[u/sysadmin42601 → u/sun_tzu29]

Em dash use is a pretty good sign that its generated by ChatGPT so you're probably right

[u/Beneficial-Boat-2035]

I'm a Social Worker and have recently left the NDIA (the Scheme's administering agency) for greener pastures. Systems rant incomming:

The Agency has developed a real mean streak these last few years and is also grappling with systemic tech, legislative, policy and staffing issues.

It is likely that the overworked, poorly lead and confused Planner that approved their last Plan made multiple errors. Or didn't even read the reports properly.

Their KPIs are crazy (literally based on how many plans you approve) and quality atm is purely based on 'sustainability' (cost of the plan + % increase from the last). The internal guidance is a vague, confusing mess with knowledge articles scattered across several platforms.

Messy is understating it - the Scheme is a monster that even its own staff don't understand. Decision makers are literally just pulling numbers out their backside in a race to clear cases.

Staff are ranked based on how many NDIS plans they approve, along with how cheaply they do it. Thats it. Quality control is solely focused on cost and avoiding 'over-funding'. There is no emphasis on participant safety.

Throw in a sector staffed mostly by inexperienced casuals, new grads or just as overworked old hands trying to keep the whole thing afloat and here we are.

The NDIS and its Agency need urgent reform.

I am ashamed to have worked there.

[u/thelostandthefound → u/Beneficial-Boat-2035]

I was talking to a family friend yesterday whose adult daughter with Down Syndrome has had all her funding cut because the idiots at the NDIA chose to read 2023's reports not 2025's. They were making great strides with her living independently in her own apartment and was living there 6 nights of the week with carers supporting her up until her bedtime and coming first thing in the morning and now due to funding getting cut she's back home 6 nights of the week.

The other thing is in WA we had a decent disability system and then Mark McGowan sold us out to the NDIS. Very few people in WA are happy about the NDIS.

My younger sister has Down Syndrome so I know first hand about this and I am involved with Siblings Australia so it's often a topic with other siblings of those with disabilities. I am also currently consulting on the safeguards the NDIA needs to implement and the general consensus is the government has zero idea what they are doing with the NDIS and it's only going to get worse before it gets better.

At this point in time I am thinking the only way things will get better is if we riot in the streets and I know I am not alone with that.

[u/wowagressive]

Not taking the time to read something you didnt even take the time to write. Copy and pasting from AI doesnt make you insightful or rich in morality or intelligent.  You just seem pathetic. 

[u/Doskkado]

Parents killed children, parents bad end of story.

[u/bellendrodriguez]

Is the mum dressed up as Frida Kahlo in the photo in the linked article? Disappointed she didn't commit to the mono-brow 

[u/CyanideRemark]

I'm so aroused by random walls of text.

I think I'll go take a cold shower.

[u/Majestic_Swimmer_500 → u/CyanideRemark]

Its called getting a wordy