April and Rosemary
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.
April is a single mother. A doctor diagnosed her with autism, but April said she doesn’t identify as autistic.
When April gave birth to Rosemary a couple of years ago, child protection officers told April she needed to be supervised until she had a parenting assessment, to make sure she could take care of her daughter. They told her she had to wait three months to be assessed.
‘[The officers] didn’t provide me with any support in arranging for this supervision and just expected me to find this kind of support myself,’ April told the Royal Commission
April was living on her own when Rosemary was born.
‘I was forced to move out. I had no family or friends that I could move in with, so I was forced to move in with a stranger.’
April said the stranger was ‘unpleasant’ and didn’t want April to have visitors.
‘This time was really hard, I had no privacy. Me and [Rosemary] weren’t even allowed to have a bath together on our own.’
April and her daughter were confined to a room for the three months while they waited for the parenting assessment.
‘We couldn’t even see my family at Christmas because no-one would take us. I have had a better time during this entire COVID-19 lockdown than I had during those invasive three months.’
The parenting assessment showed that she was a capable parent.
‘I was told I no longer needed to be supervised. That day I immediately moved out of the house I was living in with the stranger. I couldn’t wait to move out.’
April said three months of supervision without support was too long.
‘I feel like during this time [the child protection department] didn’t help me at all, they didn’t care about me and didn’t listen to what I had to say.’
Despite being assessed as a capable parent, April said the hospital in which she gave birth still believed her daughter was at ‘high risk’.
‘I don’t know why they think that.’
The hospital told April she had to come back for regular ‘check-ins’, even though she regularly saw her maternity nurse and general practitioner.
‘I’m asked to do this even though I don’t live near this hospital anymore … I don’t think other parents have to do this.’
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.