Disability Carers - A Plight

I had a career in the public service, admittedly in a job I did not like. I care for my wife who has injuries from an accident, in addition to three children – two of whom are mentally disabled. The intermittent and unpredictable nature of my caring responsibilities effectively rendered me unemployable, despite lots of hot air from employers about being flexible for caring responsibilities. I left the workforce to be a full-time carer. It sounds like a sob story on the surface, but I have thoroughly enjoyed having several years out of the workforce to enjoy watching my kids grow up – something many parents miss out on these days.

But now the kids are older and go to school. This left a lot of free time during the day. I considered returning to work but it was going to be a cold day in hell before I went back to my old career (which was in tatters from the impact of my caring responsibilities). So I chose to go back to university instead of whining about what life had thrown me. And I am almost finished now. Soon I will have another go at starting a career – and with my experiences I have a deep understanding and empathy for the may women who try to return to the workforce after starting a family.

My wife and kids are eligible for whatever the NCIS thing is, but we didn’t bother to fill out another mountain of forms since Centrefail already have the information, there just aren’t enough hours in a day, and we still can’t work out how it can possible help us. There is an information vacuum when it comes to finding out what assistance is there for carers. Centrefail seem to be more interested in finding ways to stop you from accessing assistance, rather than providing it.

So carers continue to struggle away without complaining. It does not take a carer long to figure out that they are in it alone, and if you want to change anything you have to work hard to make those changes yourself. Cos no one else is going to help you get when you are in the depths of the welfare abyss.

Parents give up careers all the time to raise children and then have to find their way back into the work force.
Sometimes you just have to start at the bottom again or make do with a new career.

Certainly a federal issue that this country has been ducking for years. How it happens is easy to diagnose, with a desire to help out a near relative who requires care the able bodied unselfishly volunteer. Care receiver goes into formal care or dies, and the carer ends up being out in the cold after a bit of a period of grace. Carer Allowance is one of the payments available. Very little thinking has occurred about the post care future of these folk. Also, the avalanche of burnt out carers relinquishing care needs to be worked through in more than an economic way.

Clearly what is required is another Government program..

I would suggest the support available would be 100% identical to any other unemployed person.

Sure his situation is unlucky and he made a sacrifice to help a relative but I honestly don’t know what other kind of support you would suggest.

Is it the responsibility of a government to get someones career back on track after a hiatus and how is his situation any different to a mother returning to work after 7 years of raising a child?

Why is there an expectation that the hand of government will direct (and support) us through every aspect of our lives?

If he took a few minutes to look at his options he would discover that HECS HELP/ VET FEE HELP can cover the cost of the course upfront to be repaid later and Newstart/Austudy will pay a basic living allowance while he studies.

There is no plan for volunteer carers to be involved in the NDIS.

I think that the Human Services systems would simply view him now as a job-seeker, meaning he’ll be connected to an agency who is meant to find him work. thing is, those agencies are not set up to support re-training in something like his area. He’s more likely to end up with a forklift ticket. It would be great if there was an agency that concentrated on people who are in a situation like this – to re-train up to the standard that employers want in the SPECIFIC field a person previously worked in. Otherwise it can end up feeling like wasted time, and really importantly, wasted talent.