Getting NDIS help is too complex for many families, warns child health body

The complexity of the NDIS is proving too much for families, some of which ultimately give up on obtaining support, warns a child health group.

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The state’s peak child-health body has criticised the “ineffectual planning” of the NDIS, warning that vulnerable young people are being disadvantaged.

Families “give up” trying to navigate the complex system, meaning children miss out on vital support, SA Child and Adolescent Health Community of Practice deputy chair Maeve Downes says.

The concerns come ahead of a parliamentary hearing into National Disability Insurance Scheme planning on Tuesday.

Vision Australia will front the inquiry to voice concerns that vision-impaired people are receiving “insufficient support and guidance” to implement their plans.

Ms Downes, in a submission to the inquiry, says experienced clinicians report that planners “regularly fail” to recognise or understand the complex needs of children with a disability.

“There is major concern in (the) health (department) about the expertise of planners, as clinicians try to advocate on behalf of individual children, support distressed families and deal with the fallout of ineffectual planning.”

Almost 30,000 South Australians have signed up to the NDIS since it launched in 2013.

But Ms Downes says Aboriginal, migrant and refugee families, those living remotely, and children in out-of-home care, are disadvantaged.

“The current system enables families with more health literacy or ability to advocate for their children to receive different levels of funding than more vulnerable families,” the submission states.

Ms Downes says this affects children’s lifelong development and has further social implications.

NDIS planners give participants advice about disability services. But SA disability organisation Novita in its submission says the skills, knowledge and experience of planners was “highly variable”.

“The information provided by planners to participants is highly inconsistent and dependent on the individual planners interpretation of NDIS policy and the price guide,” Novita chief executive Greg Ward writes.

The National Disability Insurance Agency maintains it tries to recruit planners who have an understanding of, or lived experience in disability, as well as relevant qualifications.

About 2000 planners and local area co-ordinators nationally have been put through a new six-week induction course since mid-2018 to address criticism they are under-trained.