Desperate plea for government assistance

Dear Terry Mulder,

I am writing to you in anticipation that you may be able to find out why the following local and state departments are having difficulties meeting the desperate needs of my family situation. I am a mother of four children with my youngest, 14 year old son having severe autism; a severe intellectual disability, an acquired brain injury, epilepsy, asthma and who is non verbal as well as exhibiting aggressive and violent behaviours. I am also inflicted with spina bifida which ten years ago resulted in me requiring urgent spinal surgery to remove a lypoema from my spinal cord resulting me requiring a walking stick and suffering from stamina and balance issues.

I am eligible for one and half hours of home help, once per fortnight from the local council and they have not been able to allocate a regular cleaner to me due to being heavily booked. I have not had my house cleaned for 8 weeks and I am not sure when they will be able to find someone to help me out.

Secondly, I have an ISP support package from the Department of Human Services  which is presently not adequate to meet the needs of my family situation. The new ISP which is significantly greater than my original ISP has been verified for a number of years however I am still waiting for this amount to be allocated. Given, Brandon’s behaviours have been getting increasingly worse , he is now requiring two carers at a time from Gateways Support services and my present level of funding does not meet these extra costs. The added burden on me is making it increasingly untenable to continue looking after my son in my own home because there are not enough supports in place to assist with meeting his needs.

I am hoping that you may be able to advocate on my behalf because I am hoping to be able to look after my son in his home for as long as I physically can, however to have some hope in doing this ,I really need the support that has been promised to me.