The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has been accused of requesting that a 13-year-old Indigenous boy with cerebral palsy be placed into state care after withdrawing funding for his accommodation.
The boy, who has spastic quadriplegia and uses a wheelchair, was placed in child protection in early 2017 after the NDIA stopped paying for a support package in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. The agency argued that 24-hour support, care and housing was not a reasonable and necessary support.
His mother, who has complex health issues and could not perform some care tasks for cultural reasons, lost guardianship to the state. She has since secured shared guardianship but her son remains in care.
Evidence before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal includes letters from NDIA managers to Territory Families requesting state intervention. In December 2016, the NDIA wrote that the mother had been unable to care for the boy and that accommodation costs were unlikely to be covered in his new plan.
A second letter in February 2017 formally advised funding would cease from 6 March. NDIS funding for other supports remained in place.
Shelley Landmark, a lawyer at NT Legal Aid, said the mother was unaware of the NDIA’s approach until after her child was taken. “We have ended up with a kid in care who doesn’t need to be there,” she said.
