08-08-2022, 07:44 AM
Funny, that isn't the experience my friend is enduring right now. She is 62, raising her ten year old grandson who has severe behavioural issues due to being neurodiverse. He is currently coming out of a suspension (for punching the headmistress...) and is on mornings only at school. She is naturally on call as his parent, but WINZ want her to be actively seeking work and require her to demonstrate that with various lists and forms and attending interviews...
Her twenty something case manager seems unable to comprehend the challenges of parenting such a child and keeping him out of the welfare system, so her focus is on her job, not her client's needs...
The trouble is the gulf between what is policy, and what is actually happening in the branch offices of WINZ. And as my friend says, only three more years and she will graduate out of solo parent territory and into Super, and then she will be treated like an adult human being.
She can't wait.
Her twenty something case manager seems unable to comprehend the challenges of parenting such a child and keeping him out of the welfare system, so her focus is on her job, not her client's needs...
The trouble is the gulf between what is policy, and what is actually happening in the branch offices of WINZ. And as my friend says, only three more years and she will graduate out of solo parent territory and into Super, and then she will be treated like an adult human being.
She can't wait.