Cliff Robinson with his intellectually disabled children John and Marita, both in their 40s, whom he cares for full-time at their home in Thames. Photo / Natalie Slade
Cliff Robinson with his intellectually disabled children John and Marita, both in their 40s, whom he cares for full-time at their home in Thames. Photo / Natalie Slade
A Government scheme which puts the onus on disabled people to hire a family member as their carer will end up pitting disabled people against their loved ones, the New Zealand Carers Alliance says.
The group has responded to a the Funded Family Care Notice, published in the New ZealandGazette, which detailed how the Government's $92 million policy of paying family carers would be implemented.
Health Minister Tony Ryall said the Notice set out the terms and conditions on which eligible adult disabled people were allocated Ministry of Health funding to employ certain family carers for care and household management services.
"As the funding will enable around 1600 disabled adults to pay family carers, it will take the NASC (Needs Assessment and Service Coordination) organisations some weeks to complete the assessments and eligible family members to start to receive payments.
The Notice said the Ministry would pay the disabled person for funded family care, who would then employ a family carer to provide that care. The disabled person and the family carer would also need to prepare an individual service arrangement.
NZ Carers Alliance chairman John Forman said the carers who qualified were in many cases also the disabled person's parent - putting the decision-making on the shoulders of a person who may be severely or profoundly disabled.
It would introduce an employment aspect into the relationship, which could sour the family dynamic, he said.
The disabled person would also have to oversee compliance tasks such as ACC levies and Kiwisaver contributions.
