Rochelle Hodge pictured with her three children, Corbin, Connor and Taylor. Pic: Marc Robertson Source: The Courier-Mail
A BRISBANE mother says she may have to follow other parents and give up her disabled teenager to state care because a change in government funding has made her family's situation untenable.
The plight of the Hodge family mirrors that of other Queenslanders who, for the sake of a few thousand dollars, have been forced to make the devastating decision to hand over their child. The bill to taxpayers for a child in care can reach $100,000 a year.
Rochelle Hodge and her husband Daniel care for three children, all with severe autism and intellectual disabilities.
Ms Hodge said she could not afford the care required by 13-year-old Taylor and she faced a horrifying choice to "relinquish" her. The state would then assume a parenting role and cover all Taylor's funding needs.
"I hate to even think about it but it's come down to that point. It's horrible," Ms Hodge said.
Previously, funding could be accessed for medication, required equipment, informal support or fuel, needed to transport the children to appointments.
Now only respite service costs and therapy can be covered, leaving families supporting children with a disability to rely on charities and to tighten their budgets.
Cutbacks taxing in labour of love
Ms Hodge and her husband, Daniel, survive on carers' pensions worth about $30,000 each anda total of about $8000 in funding for both Taylor and 10-year-old Connor. She estimates it's about $10,000 short of what they need.
Funding for their youngest, Corbin, 8, stops on June 30.
"I would fight every avenue beforehand, but I've seen really strong and determined parents give up in the end," Ms Hodge said. "I used to think it's awful, how could you do that and be quite judging of them. But now, I understand. It's not made emotionally. It was the only way for them."
An average of 14 children with a disability are given into care every year as the strain pushes families past breaking point.
Ms Hodge said her own family's desperation had grown from a lack of access to support, since changes were made to the funding scheme known as the Family Support Package.
A Disability Services spokeswoman said the restricted funding access was "so that the supports and services provided directly relate to the assessed needs of the person with a disability, rather than duplicating other available government subsidies and assistance or going towards general family living expenses"."Families can purchase specialist disability services, which include respite services, support equipment, therapy and support for community participation," she said.
Ms Hodge has fought to extend some funding for tranport costs but that finished at the end of March.
She estimated she would face more than $10,000 in additional costs each year without access to the funding.
Ms Hodge said it was an excess that was out of reach for a family surviving on carer payment pensions.
To relinquish a child with a disability, parents must take them to a government office or refuse to collect them from school, hospital or respite.
Parents can still visit the child they have been forced to give up but the process can be devastating for everyone, including siblings.
Autism Queensland chief executive officer Penny Beeston said all organisations involved in disability work had been confronted with the horrific journey.
"Relinquishment is a cry for help. It's never more than a cry for help," she said.
Endeavour Foundation General Manager of Disability Services Gail Davidson said not enough was done for families before they faced the decision of relinquishment.
"Delaying help to families in distress is a false economy. It is far more cost effective to intervene early than offer a late response at crisis point," she said.
Every Australian Counts Queensland co-ordinator Fiona Anderson said
many organisations that helped children with a disability were hopeful that families like the Hodges would be helped by the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Minister for Disability Reform Jenny Macklin said the NDIS would give people with a disability the certainty that they will get care and support over their lifetime.
But for Ms Hodge, help is needed urgently.
"I just don't know what else to do."
Cutbacks taxing in labour of love
FOR the Hodge family, there isn't a morning, just one day rolling into the next.
Full-time carers for their three children with a disability, Rochelle and Daniel Hodge never stop working, with at least one of them awake at all times to provide the necessary 24-hour care.
Their daughter Taylor, 13, suffers from low-functioning autism, an intellectual impairment, a neurological condition and low muscle tone.
Connor is 10 and suffers from a similar disability to his sister. They both need help to wash and perform basic tasks like putting on their shoes and socks.
Eight-year-old Corbin is the "easiest" to look after - able to communicate with his autism and intellectual impairment.
Daily tasks take "however long it takes" - perhaps 20 minutes just to get the children into the car to go to school or visits to their occupational therapists.
"We don't sleep at night like other people do . . . it's definitely tough," Ms Hodge said.
Her husband looks after the children, but after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from his time spent serving in East Timor in 1999, he cannot care for them for any extended period of time.
While the children are at school, Ms Hodge's days are spent organising and fighting for funding, the family surviving on a carer's allowance and pension combined of about $30,000 each a year with disability funding for Taylor and Connor of about $8000 each.
The funding for Corbin will be stopped by the end of June because his disabilities are not considered severe.
Previously, the family could spend government funding however they saw fit and used it for medication, equipment, fuel to transport the children to their appointments and flights from Townsville so their grandparents could help care for the children.
But following a range of restrictions put in place over the past few years, they must now get departmental approval for each purchase.
Most recently, Ms Hodge was denied funding to provide Connor with a specialised mattress despite the endorsement from her occupational therapist and an extended fight.
But after The Courier-Mail questioned the Disabilities department, the family was given the necessary $500.
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