Keir and Sally-Anne
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
Keir is in his late teens. He has intellectual disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and recently moved into supported accommodation.
‘He thought he was going to live with mum and dad, that's me and my husband, forever,’ Sally-Anne told the Royal Commission. ‘But he didn't understand, you know, we're both [over 70].’
One day, a support worker phoned Sally-Anne to tell her Keir’s ‘girlfriend had arrived’.
‘He will take anybody in. He's so, so vulnerable … and the next night she took him to a motel and he stayed with her in this motel for quite a while.’
The service provider told Sally-Anne that Keir couldn’t live in the house anymore.
‘He's got a disability and I thought they should have been a little bit lenient … So where do we move him to? We had nowhere. There weren't many options.’
The service provider offered him another house more than an hour away.
‘It was not a good place for [Keir] at all … He had another homeless girl who was coming and sneaking in through the window of a night. They had drugs coming in … The house was an absolute pigsty.’
Sally-Anne said the support workers let homeless people stay in Keir’s house, telling her they ‘had a duty of care’ to help them.
‘My husband says it's a tin-pot show … We were concerned what was happening to [Keir], but we kept on saying to ourselves, “What about other kids who have come out of the system like [Keir] and gone into [this service provider].’
Sally-Anne said that at one point Keir had little food because the support workers lost his credit card. They also mismanaged his medication.
‘He was given his night-time medication of a morning, which was sleeping medication.’
Eventually, Sally-Anne brought him home and found a new service provider.
‘He's in a house by himself now and it's only got two bedrooms and ... it's much better, much better.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.