NDIS decision leaves family on the brink of eviction and bankruptcy

An Adelaide father says his family is on the brink of homelessness after the NDIS cut funding for his intellectually-disabled daughter.

Georgia Kosteriadis with her dad Alex Kosteriadis are dealing with the fall out after NDIS cut support funding. Picture: Kelly Barnes

An Adelaide family says they are “on the verge” of homelessness after an NDIS decision to cut support funding from their intellectually-disabled daughter led to them closing down their business to care for her.

Alex Kosteriadis and his wife Leah spent more than around $100,000 to open a smoothie bar in Grange last year, but had to shut the business for good in June, after they were rejected for increased support in April.

The decision by an NDIS review officer last month went against professional medical advice that “highly recommended” two support staff, a male and a female, were required to care for Mr Kosteriadis’ 19-year-old daughter, Georgia.

As an infant, Georgia suffered a stroke, severely damaging her frontal lobe, losing 80 per cent of the left side of her brain, and as a young adult, she has been unable to control her emotions, having multiple aggressive outbursts per day.

Mr Kosteriadis and his wife applied for increased funding in October last year, because their daughter was graduating from a special needs school and required home support.

Georgia Kosteriadis, pictured with her dad Alex Kosteriadis, suffered a stroke as an infant. Picture: Kelly Barnes

However, despite reports from their daughter’s psychologist, which said she needed two support workers to help, their application was rejected due to it not being “value for money”, according to the NDIS.

“I can’t understand how this one lady (NDIS review officer) can make a decision that overrules a specialist that's been looking after y daughter since 2019,” Mr Kosteriadis told the Advertiser.

“Jon’s (psychologist) been working with her and the team to make a good team that understands Georgia and he’s done a great report that all the carers have to read to understand Georgia.

“These are the things that took us a year to implement and then get the carers, and get the right carers that would go with her and train her up and do this and do that.

“We’ve done this all over time to make sure that once she leaves school, she can start being a part of the community and then that’s when we applied for the change of circumstances.”

The school which Georgia attended allowed her to be looked after by staff while her father ran a smoothie bar in Grange.

Georgia Kosteriadis with her dad Alex Kosteriadis at their home in Seaton. They are on the verge of being evicted after the NDIS rejected increased funding for their daughter against the medical advice. Picture: Kelly Barnes

He said he and his wife needed the extra support after she left school, and applied for increased funding so Georgia could have two support workers at home for 10 hours a day, which he required to be able to run his business.

“The money that we have now is a third of what we had before,” he said.

“We actually needed more when she finished school, because there was no school anymore.”

Mr Kosteriadis said the support his daughter received from her psychologist, Jon Martin since 2019 had led to significant improvements in her behaviour, and she was being taken off strong medication.

“We were actually starting to take her off of her medication,” Mr Kosteriadis said.

“We actually did stop one of her medications in the morning, and the last meeting we had with the psychiatrist, his aim was to get Georgia off all medications within a few years.

“But on the date the funding got slashed and her world got turned upside down, now we’re doubled the medication of what we took off already, so, and we have to increase it again

“We’ve been increasing it over the past couple of weeks because she’s just getting too irate.”

A National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) spokesperson told the Advertiser that the NDIA made funding decisions based on available evidence and in accordance with the NDIS Act.

“The NDIA’s priority remains ensuring Georgia and her family have the disability-related supports they need,” the spokesperson said.

“The Agency continues to provide a significant level of funding for Georgia.

“Her current NDIS plan has slightly reduced but remains at more than $300,000 per year (which is comparable to her previous 12-month plan) – which supports her to lead a more inclusive, independent life.”