Haifa and Adira

Haifa, late-teens, is short-statured, autistic, has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and intellectual disability.

Her first primary school was a special school and she did very well.

A few years later, her family moved and she attended a public school with a special unit.

‘The special needs teacher couldn’t gel with [Haifa],’ her mum Adira told the Royal Commission.

Haifa’s behaviour deteriorated and the teacher would ‘lock her up’.

The school tried to suspend Haifa, but Adira refused to let them. She told the school and education department she would continue to drop Adira at school because she had to work and Haifa had a right to an education.

The department found Haifa a place in a special school. She studied a range of subjects, played sport and participated in after-school activities with an NDIS provider.

‘She had a busy lifestyle,’ Adira said. ‘She had everything going for her. She was very good.’

One day, at an after-school activity, a man in his 20s touched Haifa inappropriately several times.

Haifa wasn’t yet a teenager and Adira hadn’t realised some of the participants were adults.

Haifa told the supervisor what was happening.

‘They say, “No, I think you're imagining it.” They don't want to accept it.’

Later, Haifa told a support worker who reported the incident.

‘Once you report it, then it becomes a chaos … Police get involved … Child protection unit gets involved.’

Adira said the provider refused to accept responsibility, which ‘was so wrong’.

Haifa became very distressed and refused to leave the house.

‘She is traumatised. And because of her trauma and because of the autism triggers … she is a mess.’

Some time later, Haifa went to stay with her father for the holidays.

Her father refused to let her return home, and coerced her into telling authorities that Adira was abusing her.

Haifa managed to run away and told police she wanted to come home. She later told Adira that her dad had been locking her in the bathroom and leaving her there on her own.

‘She was a totally different person when I got her here. She was traumatised. She was self-harming … She was breaking things in my house, she was cutting herself.’

Adira took Haifa to hospital where they sedated her and sent her home.

‘I had no psychiatrist – a big wait list. No therapist – a big wait list. I'm going round and round in circles.’

Haifa’s former school found a place in a suitable high school. But her behaviour deteriorated and she became more and more aggressive.

‘I sent her to hospital. They sedate her and send her back because she becomes physical. She hits the teachers, she hits me,’ said Adira.

One time, Haifa and Adira were seriously injured.

Police and child protection became involved and removed Haifa from Adira’s care.

Child protection struggled to find suitable respite accommodation because Haifa didn’t have sufficient NDIS funding.

‘I actually offered that she stays at my home and I'll move out and they said, “No, we've got to move the child out under the legislation.”’

Eventually child protection returned Haifa to Adira.

‘I've got a behaviour therapist, I've got a behaviour practitioner, I've got a psychologist, I've got a speech therapist. These people are in [Haifa]'s life very much. We've worked very hard.’

But it is difficult to find support workers and every couple of weeks Haifa returns to hospital.

Hospital staff ‘don’t want’ Haifa. They disregard her disability and trauma and instead restrain and medicate her and then send her home.

‘There is no place for people with disability to go to for a few days if they feel very, very anxious,’ Adira said.

‘Every time she is discharged, she breaks things … All the people that work with her, they're exhausted. They go. She needs consistency.’