Dwayne and Kristina
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.
Dwayne is autistic and has oppositional defiance disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
‘He [is] extremely intelligent,’ his mum Kristina told the Royal Commission. ‘Always seeking interaction with others, which is what makes him vulnerable … That desperate need for the best friend and fitting in has really opened him up to some harmful situations.’
Kristina said that when Dwayne started at a private school, he gravitated to the ‘cool kids’ who manipulated him.
‘It was probably grade 1 where things started to fall apart at the school, where the kids identified that he could be targeted to do something for fun and that he would get in trouble. Which is what happened.’
The school made things worse by excluding Dwayne.
‘He wasn't allowed to go out at recess and lunch with some of the others, and these particular kids would … taunt him. The school never really communicated any of this stuff with me.’
Kristina said she learnt about the exclusion practice from other parents whose children ‘were quite distressed at how [Dwayne] was being treated’.
Kristina withdrew Dwayne from the school and enrolled him in another private school that ‘associate themselves as being ASD [autism spectrum disorder] friendly’.
‘He didn't have any support. They didn't have teacher aides. Yet they were promoting that they had this interest or experience.’
Dwayne’s behaviour deteriorated at the end of primary school.
‘That year was a devastating year, he was in trouble all the time and there was no supports and their strategy, again, was to remove and exclude.’
Kristina said the school employed an unqualified person to write Dwayne’s support plan.
‘They basically couldn't manage him. And he's intelligent so he's worked out this person has got no credibility, no backbone. So he can dance rings around them as well.’
One day, other children goaded Dwayne into a fight. The school expelled him.
Dwayne began to run away from home, and child protection placed him in out-of-home care.
‘One of his behaviours is he … creates stories when he doesn't get what he wants or when he wants something,’ Kristina said. ‘So, twice he's made allegations against me and [child protection] were involved.’
The NDIS recently funded Dwayne’s complex support needs, including two support workers in out-of-home care.
‘No mother wants their child to be out of home. No mother wants their child to be in a two-to-one setting [where] you’ve got two [support workers] and one child. No person wants that, let alone the quality of some of the carers, which is another issue. [But] that’s where he’s sitting at the moment.’
Despite having two support workers, Dwayne continues to abscond. One day, he was found living in the home of a stranger. Kristina told the police.
‘[The police officer’s] response to me was "Oh, I'm just taking this as a sleepover, you know, 12-year-olds can have sleepovers." I was like, "Sorry, who are you? I'm his mother.”’
Kristina said the NDIA is threatening to remove funding for Dwayne’s two support workers and she is ‘box ticking continuously’.
‘We’ve got police involved, fighting with [child protection] because they need to be involved, but they say it’s NDIA, and all this back and forth. We’re continuously going through … crisis after crisis. … He's been put more and more at risk and he's vulnerable to further abuse, to sexual abuse.’
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.