Without private money, these children have no way to pay for therapy to teach them how to live.
Red tape and the absence in the Eurobodalla of government-certified early intervention providers has left vulnerable children without services essential for their life outcomes.
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This small and innocent group aged from 0-6 years already faces the massive hurdle of navigating life with a disability. These are children like my own son, whose first word never comes; for whom the simple task of putting one foot before the other takes years of hard work, heartache and money – never with any guarantee.
Now the government body loudly promising to help families navigate the complicated and costly task of securing needs such as speech and physical therapy, refuses to acknowledge the lack of government-certified early intervention providers in the Eurobodalla leaves small children without support.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is the statutory body rolling out the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The roll out began in the Eurobodalla in July last year.
Millions of dollars has proven that early intervention is essential for children with disability. Yet 12 months on, not one aged between 0-6 years in this region has received an NDIS package.
Without private money, these children have no way to pay for therapy to teach them how to live.
The NDIA announced in October an added layer of red tape specific to this age bracket, called Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI). To be approved, families must work with an NDIA nominated transition provider. In the Eurobodalla, those providers are Mission Australia, Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Aspect. This is where things get messy.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance no longer operates here, and Aspect doesn’t have a presence at all. Mission Australia does, but it is my understanding that just one part-time employee has the task of transitioning applicants to the NDIS.
Muddy Puddles Therapy Centre is the only Eurobodalla service set up to provide trans-disciplinary early childhood intervention. However, as it is not an ECEI transition provider, it is unable to provide these services.
“We are not an ECEI transition provider, because we are not (State) funded by Family and Child Services (FaCS),” Muddy Puddles CEO Cate McMath said. “Therefore we weren’t eligible to be selected.”
I have tried in vain to get answers for the desperate families at the centre of what has clearly become a game of shift the blame. The NDIA refused to answer specific questions, but said it had tasked the NSW Government with the rollout, so the problem sat with it. The NSW Government refused to answer specific questions, but said there was no problem with ECEI transition providers in the shire.
Visit www.batemansbaypost.com.au for a full transcript.
Sally Foy is a Fairfax Media reporter, the mother of a disabled child in the 0-6 years age range, and a founding member of Muddy Puddles.
