Cher Jimenez
A Tyers woman is confused and disappointed after a series of events this year led to her grandson and a foster child being put into two different disability service agencies.
Angela Leviston felt that she was “getting nowhere” with finding the right support service for her 22-year-old grandson and her 14-year-old foster child after the human services department assigned them to two different agencies early this year.
Ms Leviston said Dylan, her grandson, was placed with OzChild while care for the 14-year-old girl, who has been with the family for 18 months, was transferred to Life Without Barriers in Dandenong.
She said Dylan and the foster child used to access support through Yooralla in Morwell until the transfer this year.
Ms Leviston said she initially wanted to move the 14-year-old’s care to OzChild so both she and Dylan can be under the same support agency.
However, she received a letter from OzChild last week saying that her request had been denied.
“[I] feel very disappointed about the letter … not sure who is going to facilitate her care,” the 65-year-old grandmother said.
Ms Leviston said she was not happy with the way Life Without Barriers was supporting the teenage girl and complained that she was not even with the National Disability Insurance Scheme that rolled out in the Latrobe Valley last October.
“The little girl has no NDIS plan so basically no one has responsibility for her.”
A spokesperson for Life Without Barriers disputed this and said the young girl’s details had been forwarded to the NDIS transition team.
The spokesperson said they were aware that Ms Leviston wanted to move the girl’s care to another organisation, however, “decisions are made by an assessment panel that includes service providers, care professionals and DHHS, which is responsible for the young person’s placement arrangements.”
“Life Without Barriers has been working with DHHS to administer care and ensure that the young person’s needs are being met,” the spokesperson said.
The Express also contacted OzChild for comments but did not hear from the agency at the time of publication.
“When we need anything it’s very difficult to try to organise something,” Ms Leviston said.
She said early this year she fell ill with pneumonia and also had surgery and the girl went into four different respite care services in the more than two weeks that she was unwell.
She was concerned because some of the girl’s information went missing. The information was kept inside one bag and sent with her wherever she went.
Ms Leviston said the girl also suffered seizures – information which her biological parents initially kept from service providers until she had an episode and was taken to Monash hospital.
A DHHS spokeswoman said “the department works to ensure that all carers are provided with appropriate support in caring for vulnerable children”.
“Due to privacy reasons it is inappropriate to comment on specific cases,” the spokeswoman said.
