Jamila
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.
Jamila is a First Nations woman. She had surgery on her eye when she was a child and, around the same time, was diagnosed with intellectual disability.
Jamila attended both mainstream and special schools and graduated high school.
Now in her late 20s, Jamila lives with her grandmother, who raised her, and another person who uses a wheelchair.
‘I have responsibilities for running a household and caring for both people,’ she said.
About three years ago, Jamila gave birth to her first child. At the time she was in a relationship with a man who is not the child’s father.
Jamila said the violence ‘was horrific’ – her partner regularly threatened to kill her.
The department of child protection removed Jamila’s daughter and placed her in foster care.
It was a terrible time for Jamila – she had postnatal depression, and a month later her father died. “I had no support,’ she said.
Jamila told the Royal Commission that since then, she has done everything the department has asked her to do so she can be reunited with her daughter. She left the relationship, goes to counselling, has completed multiple parenting courses, got her driver’s licence and is studying for a certificate in child care.
But the department refuses to return Jamila’s daughter. They told her ‘a very close bond has formed with the carer’.
‘They have used my disability to their advantage and basically everything I have done, they haven’t taken into account.’
The department won’t allow Jamila to spend time with her daughter without supervision.
‘I don’t know my daughter. They have stopped me from having a bond with her. COVID has stopped me in a very bad way. They want to keep her until she is 18, and I will only see her three to four times a year. My dad was Aboriginal and so is she. The court orders don’t say anything about that at all.’
Jamila’s daughter has language delay and needed to see a specialist. The department wouldn’t allow Jamila to attend the appointments or be involved in any of the NDIS assessments.
‘[I have] just been cut out of the whole parenting role,’ she said.
Last year, Jamila started a new relationship and is pregnant with her second child.
The child’s father has been in trouble with the police. The department has threatened to remove the new baby and has told Jamila if she lives with her partner she will never get custody of her daughter.
Jamila said the department doesn’t want to acknowledge how far she’s come.
‘I am a confident woman managing … a household. Not to mention the steps taken to learn to make sure I am a good parent … I want my daughter back. And I want to be with her … I love her to bits. I do everything for her.’
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.