Elly and Pearce
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.
Elly has an intellectual disability and mental health conditions that include post- traumatic stress disorder.
Her father, Pearce, said child protection put Elly into foster care when she was five, after her mother abused her.
Pearce fought to get Elly back, and regained custody after Elly was sexually abused in foster care. He raised her on his own for the next 15 years.
‘She’s a beautiful kid … She shows me a lot of confidence that she can have a go at things,’ Pearce told the Royal Commission. ‘No-one’s perfect at raising any child that has some sort of disability, especially when I’ve got a disability myself – intellectual impairment. But I stand up. I done the best I can.’
A few years ago, Elly’s GP recommended she be fitted with an intrauterine device (IUD) for contraception. Elly loves children and the GP was concerned that Elly ‘wanted to have a baby’.
Pearce said Elly does understand where babies came from and what contraception does.
‘She knows everything because … we used to get books.’
Elly signed a document agreeing to the IUD. However the device hurt Elly and caused mood changes.
‘I could not put up with watching Elly self-harming all the time over pain,’ Pearce said.
Pearce asked the GP to remove the IUD and Elly was admitted to hospital.
Around the same time Pearce, who has diabetes, developed an infection and was ‘in and out of the hospital’.
Elly told Pearce that, despite her severe reaction to the first IUD, doctors had ‘forced her to sign the document’ for a second IUD.
Pearce, ‘tired and burnt out’, asked an NDIS support coordinator to help get Elly discharged and ‘to get a bit of support’ so he could ’have a rest’.
The coordinator suggested Elly’s affairs be placed under the public guardian. Pearce, still sick, agreed.
Soon after, Pearce discovered one of Elly’s NDIS service providers had filed a domestic violence order (DVO) against him.
‘It got me a shock … I found out when I got out of hospital … that I was getting a DVO on me to get me out the way … [But Elly] kept contacting me when she wasn’t supposed to.’
Pearce said it meant Elly couldn’t return home if he was still there, so he moved into a caravan. However, because he rents public housing in his name, the housing department considered he’d abandoned his home and he lost all his possessions.
Without a home to return to Elly was kept in hospital for several months, for which she was charged thousands of dollars.
‘[Elly] was under the trustee. That was why she was living in hospital … It was something to do with, like, rent.’
Pearce said an advocate helped him have the debt wiped and a lawyer helped Pearce have the DVO removed.
The guardian eventually found supported accommodation for Elly, but she is unhappy.
‘[Elly’s] got the capability of standing up. It’s just she needed just a bit of, you know, some people in the real world [to help her]. She wants a job … and her NDIS plan has not even worked, right? The guardian’s not doing anything, even the provider, they’re not supporting her.’
Pearce is worried what will happen if Elly does have a baby.
‘I’ve already been through this with the guardian … They’re ready to pounce on her to take the kid away. Can’t they give [Elly] a chance?’
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.