6. Case studies
6.1 Introduction
The final element of this study involved carrying out a set of qualitative case studies of movement towards self-reliance, based on in-depth interviews with clients judged by SAAP services to have made significant progress.
The purpose of these case studies was to explore how the issues identified in the survey played out in the lives of some individuals, including respondents’ ideas about self-reliance, the barriers they found to achieving it, the kinds of help they received from services, and the factors associated with making progress towards getting back on their feet.
Services based in areas of metropolitan and regional NSW close to Sydney were asked to recruit clients according to the same criteria as used for the survey. Clients were offered vouchers to the value of $40 as compensation for the time and effort involved in taking part in the study. Interviews lasting up to one hour were carried out either at the SAAP service, at their current accommodation or at another place of their preference. The names of the clients have been changed to avoid identification. In a few instances details of their circumstances have also been altered where these were unusual enough to risk identification.
While by no means exhaustive of the diverse circumstances of people who receive help from SAAP services, the case studies provide some illustrations of the impact of such assistance and the challenges still facing recipients.
6.2 ‘Alana’: 24 year old sole parent
Alana grew up on Sydney’s lower north shore. Her father, a doctor, left the family when she was 15, leaving Alana’s mother in debt and forcing her to sell the family home. Alana’s grandfather stepped in and provided the family with a place to live.
At age 20, Alana moved to Canberra to study communications at university. She also met her partner Tim in Canberra and eventually moved in with him and his family. Their daughter was born two years later. Alana completed two years of her university degree before deciding to change her career choice. She enrolled in a course that required her and her daughter to travel to Sydney – staying with her mother during the week – and travelling back down to Canberra on the weekends to be with her partner.
Alana experienced violence from her partner throughout the relationship. After the birth of their daughter she also became increasingly anxious when his parents became overbearing in raising the child and tried to isolate Alana from her daughter. Alana wanted to leave, but was frightened and did not know how she could leave. Her primary concerns were securing custody of her daughter and protecting herself, her daughter and Alana’s mother from Tim, once he realised that Alana was not returning.
I wanted to leave but I was too scared and I didn’t know how to go about it. I was scared that he would try and take her out of the country or that his parents would try and take her out of the country because they are not from Australia. Also the fact that he knew where my mum lived and I was staying with her, and I knew that he would come up once he knew that I was not coming back and he would cause trouble.
After speaking with friends about her situation, Alana finally decided to see a family law solicitor who advised her not to return to her partner. Another friend also gave her the telephone number for a homeless crisis hotline.
Alana was 24 with a two-year-old daughter when she was referred to a crisis accommodation centre for women and children, just prior to Christmas. The centre provided Alana and her daughter with crisis accommodation for approximately one month, referred her to subsidised transitional housing and gave her a fridge.
The centre also helped her find long day care for her daughter, which allows her to continue her studies. The partnership agreement between the crisis centre and transitional housing provider requires that the centre provide an outreach worker for Alana for the duration of her stay.
The centre put Alana in contact with victim’s compensation to determine if she was eligible for domestic violence compensation, which also provided her with eight hours of counselling with a clinical psychologist. She was also referred to and attended another women’s crisis centre for individual domestic violence counselling. As well, Alana attended the centre’s domestic violence peer group counselling, an eight-week course attended by other women affected by violence. Alana felt she benefited from the one-on-one counselling, but preferred the peer group counselling sessions.
I found that the DV group helped me a lot more. I really, really liked the one-no- one counsellor, but I just think hearing what other women have to say, who have been in the same situation, just makes you realise that it’s not just you and that you’re not imagining things.
Alana contacted Centrelink and was placed on Parenting Payment. Being on income support also allowed Alana eligibility for legal aid for her daughter’s custodial matter. Alana’s solicitor has advised her to continue with domestic violence counselling.
My lawyer wants me to go back to counselling. He’s worked with domestic violence and he just thinks that I am not fixed yet, even though I think I am. I think I just need a break from it. I feel at the moment because I am so busy I just really don’t have time. I’m studying four days a week and looking after my daughter.
Full-time study and looking after her daughter has made it difficult for Alana to find work. She would like to find part-time work but has been unable to find work that fits in with her set days of study and childcare arrangements.
The major issue currently facing Alana is finding more permanent housing. Alana’s subsidised housing was initially for six months, and has recently been extended for a further six months. She is on several community housing waiting lists. Alana does not know what she will do at the end of her transitional housing placement. She is also still struggling with the loneliness that comes with not living with her partner.
Hopefully they will have found something for me because I am on a few waiting lists. After January, if they haven’t found me a place I’m not really sure what I’m going to do because I can’t afford to go into the private rental market because it’s just so expensive, and because I haven’t had much of a work history.
Alana was asked to describe what self-reliance means to her and how self-reliant she currently felt.
Independence. Just being able I suppose do the basic things. I suppose just being able to look after yourself. I’m a lot better than at first because this is the first time in my life that I’ve ever lived by myself and actually been this independent. Before, it was Tim’s parents that were paying for everything – food and bills, but that came at a cost.
Learning to budget better is something that Alana would like further help with. Working on her budgeting skills was something that Alana and her caseworker discussed during their meetings but did not complete. Alana also recognises the importance of her mother’s support in helping her look after her daughter.
Commenting on what might hinder her self-reliance, Alana said:
I think I have a tendency to depend on others really easily. I think I just need more time to live by myself and with my daughter and to be able to look after both of us independently. Also, I think if I got back together with my daughter’s dad that would stop me from be being self-reliant. Because it’s also just being self-reliant in the fact that I don’t have a man there to do things for me as I always have. I’ve always been in a relationship.
Having a place of her own is important to Alana. She feels that if she had to live with her mother, who has recently moved into a two-bedroom unit, she would not have the space she and her daughter need and she would not be learning to be independent.
It would make it too easy to go back to Tim.
6.3 ‘Dale’: 18 year old man
Dale and his mother moved around a lot when he was young and Dale attended many different schools. His mother’s drug and alcohol use worsened over the years and Dale became a ward of the State at age 11. His aunt was granted guardianship of Dale.
Dale suffers from diagnosed depression and at around the age of 14 he started to self-harm. Dale believes that he is the type of person that does not make friends easily and that this was not helped when he changed high schools three times. Also during this time Dale came out as gay.
At age 17, Dale and his aunt’s relationship deteriorated and he sought help from his Department of Community Services’ (DoCS) caseworker. Up until that time Dale had had only sporadic contact with DoCS. The Department placed Dale in a supported housing service, arranged income support through Centrelink and referred him to a counsellor.
From the age of 11 to 17 DoCS weren’t very helpful because my aunt was so domineering and wouldn’t actually allow them to do anything. However after I left my aunt and moved into the service they were very helpful in getting me set up financially with things.
When Dale moved into the service he continued to see his counsellor for a time but is not currently in counselling. He also had access to the service’s support worker. Dale was struggling with feelings of isolation. To help him with this the support worker referred him to a youth group and to a local youth drama group. Dale found the groups helpful and he made friends, but he is no longer involved with either group.
While living at the service, Dale experienced at least one serious episode of depression, during which he felt suicidal. His support worker was on duty at the time and was able to help him through the episode, including phoning the local hospital for advice and escorting Dale to the hospital’s mental health ward, where Dale stayed overnight. The support worker controlled Dale’s medication intake during his stay with the service.
Dale stayed with the service for just over one year and moved into subsidised transitional housing when he turned 18, which is the eligibility age limit of the service. The service found a subsidised housing placement for Dale and helped him connect the utilities. DoCS provided him with some furniture. Dale had been living in his new accommodation for four months at the time of the interview and said that he was enjoying it. His support worker remains in contact with Dale and has visited him.
It’s good. It’s different living alone. But compared to living with some of these residents it’s a good thing. But being alone can be depressing at times - especially in the first two days I got very depressed because there was just no one around. But then a friend came around. I suppose it’s just learning to get out of the house, whereas before I could stay here and there would be people around that I could communicate with, but now I need to leave the house to find people to communicate with.
Dale can stay in his current accommodation for 12 months. After that time he is not sure what will happen.
I move off into my own life I suppose.
Commenting on self-reliance, Dale said:
Well I suppose I’ll just have to break it down and give definitions. To be self-reliant of course is to be able to take care of oneself in an adequate manner. So I guess it entails being able to cook for yourself, cleaning, getting myself up in the morning to get off to school, taking my medicine.
The service helped Dale learn to cook, clean the house and build more routine into his day, although he feels he was already quite good with some of these tasks and didn’t really need help.
Certainly I am self-reliant now.
Dale was asked to comment on what might hinder his self-reliance.
I suppose certainly finances could strangle me, but given our government and how good it is, we are lucky enough to have organisations like Centrelink and I of course get my youth allowance through them. And it’s a common misconception and certainly one I believed in for several years that once you turn 18 DoCS sort of cut you off. But they don’t, they assist you right up till you are 21, I believe.
Dale is currently receiving case management through a non-government organisation after care program to which DoCS referred him. He is also completing his HSC through the Pathways program and is looking for part-time work. He would like to go to university to study history.
6.4 ‘Jacqui’: 16 year old former State ward
Jacqui moved back and forth between her mother and grandmother when she was young. She cannot remember why she became a ward of the State, only that her mother had drug and alcohol problems and Jacqui’s grandmother was granted guardianship of her when she was seven years old.
Jacqui lived with her grandmother until she was 14, when she moved back in with her mother. Her mother still has drug and alcohol issues and Jacqui found it hard to build a relationship with her. She feels that she moved from one extreme to another.
My nan was really strict when I lived with her, I mean really over the top strict. And I went back to live with my mum and she’s insecure, so she wanted me to love her so she let me do what ever I wanted. So if your mum says you can do whatever you want you’re not going to be doing anything good.
Their relationship deteriorated and Jacqui also started to truant from school. After about a year of living with her mother, Jacqui ran away from home but was quickly located by police and taken into custody. Her DoCS caseworker was contacted and Jacqui went back to live with her grandmother for a few weeks while her caseworker found Jacqui a supported accommodation placement.
Jacqui moved into supported accommodation for young people and stayed there for about four months. The service had a support worker on duty between the hours of 4.00 pm till 9.00 am the next morning. Residents were not allowed to stay in the house during other times and must be either attending work or school. Jacqui did not respond well to the service’s model of supervision. Rather than go to school she would often spend the day with her mother, who lives close to the school.
Well I kind of got a bit worse then because there was more freedom. I was enrolled in school but I didn’t use to go. I had time during the daytime to do whatever I wanted. I had the whole day to waste every day.
Jacqui was expelled from school. She also moved out of the service and went to live with her aunt for a few months but this did not work out either. Jacqui and her aunt’s partner did not get along. Jacqui contacted the service and asked if she could return. By this time Jacqui had also developed an alcohol problem and was drinking a lot.
Jacqui is now 16 and has been living at the service again for about a year. Jacqui did not have any income when she came to the service. Her support worker linked her up with Centrelink to receive income support. The service also taught her how to carry out household tasks, such as cleaning.
Jacqui is currently completing her school certificate through correspondence and regrets not completing it through school. She is also working three jobs: full-time at a butcher, part-time at another butcher and on call for evening and weekend shifts at a fast food restaurant. Jacqui would like to find a place of her own and the service is helping her with this.
I’m moving. Soon. As soon as I find a place to move to.
Jacqui maintains a relationship with her grandmother, who telephones Jacqui every day. Her relationship with her mother however, remains problematic.
My mum still rings me but I don’t talk to her. I don’t like her. I’m at this stage – well – she doesn’t remember very much obviously. I’m over it. I don’t care anymore. I’ll feel sorry for her kind of. She’s very insecure she needs someone to love her. I felt sorry for her for a while, I was nice to her for a while, but it didn’t make a difference to what she was doing so I don’t care. Whatever. I don’t really care - what ever she wants to do she can do.
Jacqui was asked to describe what self-reliance means to her and how self-reliant she currently feels.
Being more independent. Learning how to cope more on your own. Instead of people doing things for you, you do them yourself. When I first came here I didn’t now how to work a washing machine.
Over the past year Jacqui believes she has matured. She used to drink a lot and go out and not come home, or would stay away for weeks. She does not do these things any more and feels she is more self-reliant.
Jacqui was asked to comment on what might hinder her self-reliance.
Not having a job. Because you need money.
Jacqui feels secure with her two part-time jobs but is not so sure about her full-time work, as she is having difficulty working with one of her colleagues. Jacqui is currently saving money so that she can move into her own place.
I’m going to move somewhere around here probably, I think so for a while. And then I’m going to move to America in five years.
6.5 ‘Kirsten’: 22 year partnered parent, child of foster parents
Kirsten described her family life when growing up as very stable. Her parents are foster carers for the Department of Community Services and another non-governmental child protection organisation.
At age 16, Kirsten started to use marijuana and amphetamines and was socialising with ‘the wrong crowd’. She rebelled against her parents and moved out of home.
Kirsten’s parents eventually persuaded her to move to the NSW central coast to get her away from the crowd she was mixing with and to help her to stop using drugs. She did not find this helpful however, as she found the central coast had the same drug culture. Kirsten felt she needed get even further away and moved to live with a cousin in country NSW.
Kirsten found this worked for her and she stopped using drugs, although she admits to still smoking marijuana occasionally. She stayed in country NSW for a year but started to miss her family and decided to move back home. When she returned, her mother helped her to get drug counselling through the community health centre. Kirsten received counselling for one year and found this helped her.
Kirsten’s first serious relationship, at age 20, was also her first experience with domestic violence. The relationship ended when she was hospitalised and her partner was taken into custody.
She also experienced domestic violence with her next partner. Six weeks after this relationship ended Kirsten found out that she was pregnant. She moved into share accommodation with a friend but did not feel comfortable with her friend’s friends coming and going in the house. Her housemate and friends also smoked marijuana, which Kirsten knew was not a good environment for her to be in.
Also during this time Kirsten’s employer dismissed her. She lodged an unfair dismissal claim on the basis that she had been dismissed because she was pregnant. She was not successful with the claim.
When Kirsten was four months pregnant she decided that she needed to find a more stable living environment.
The main issue was to try and keep a roof over my head and try and have somewhere when I had the baby. I needed to have a house for it and for it to have its own room and it was really hard to try and do that through a normal real estate or through a private rental.
Kirsten contacted a local women’s crisis housing service for advice. The service accepted her into their housing and support program, and placed her in one of their emergency housing properties for six months until her baby was born. The service then found her a subsidised, community housing placement.
Kirsten also attended a mother’s program through the service and received regular support from the outreach worker, who would phone or meet up with her three to four times per week.
It’s not just them helping you look for a place. They sort of build you up. Like repair you, pretty much. Build your self-esteem up and build your confidence levels up and all that sort of stuff.
The service’s outreach worker also helped Kirsten with her communication skills, which helped Kirsten develop a better relationship with her parents.
She gave me advice on how to approach situations. Just how to approach my mum and I used it and I still use it now and we get along perfectly.
Kirsten was asked to describe what self-reliance means to her and if the service helped her become self-reliant.
Pretty much my independence. The service helped me in a lot of ways. It was like doing a TAFE course on life, pretty much, and not to make the same mistake twice or three times. Mainly I felt the program helped me getting back on my feet and being able to do things for myself, and not having to ring my mum all the time and ask for twenty dollars here and there or borrowing money off friends.
Kirsten also believes that the program helped her to establish boundaries in her life and to say ‘no’ to people. She feels she now can say no to taking drugs with her friends and is able to better express her needs with her new partner. For example, asking him not to have his mates around all the time because it interferes with her sleep.
About eight months ago Kirsten decided to leave community housing and move into private rental with her partner.
Kirsten has also started a part-time cleaning business, working on the days that her mother can provide childcare for her daughter. This needs to coincide with the days that Kirsten’s mother places her own five-year-old son, Kirsten’s youngest brother, in childcare. Kirsten’s mother also provides childcare for Kirsten at other times to give her some time to herself. As Kirsten does not drive, her mother picks her up and drives her to her cleaning appointments. Kirsten’s parents have offered to buy her a car as soon as she gets her driver’s licence.
Kirsten formally completed the housing and support program 12 months ago, but is still in contact with the service’s outreach worker.
I still see my caseworker even though I’m with my partner. She has still agreed to see me if I have any problems and for stuff like that, so I’ve always got her if I need her for anything.
6.6 ‘Mia’: 36 year old migrant sole parent
Mia was referred to a women’s crisis housing service in June 2007. She and her eighteen-month old son had been in Australia for four months, having arrived in Australia from Serbia in February to start a family life with her Australian husband.
Mia was 30 when she met her husband over the Internet in 2001. They corresponded for the next two and a half years before meeting in Serbia in 2004. They married within a few months of meeting. Her husband returned to Australia and Mia began making all the necessary arrangements for her to move to Australia. A few weeks later Mia found out that she was pregnant. Her husband did not want Mia to have the baby and asked her to have an abortion.
Mia stayed in Serbia and had her baby. During this time Mia and her husband had a reconciliation of sorts, although Mia does not feel that he really accepted the situation.
If I hadn’t had a child with him maybe I wouldn’t come here. Maybe I would, but it would be easier for me to go back. So much easier. I would be already in Serbia by now.
But because of child I wanted to give him a chance to have a father. And I still loved him and I trusted his promises.
While Mia had reservations about joining her husband in Australia, she felt that she had to come to Australia and at least try and give their son a family.
Mia arrived in February 2007 and the verbal and emotional abuse started almost immediately. Mia felt that her husband was trying to change her into another type of person.
Threatening me and blackmailing me that he is ‘going to look elsewhere’ as he used to say, if I don’t do all that he expects me to do.
By March the verbal and emotional abuse escalated and Mia’s husband raped her. Their relationship continued to deteriorate and in April her husband raped her again. During the next episode of violence she feared for her life. Mia knew she had to get her and their son out of the situation but she didn’t know how to do it in Australia.
I had no family, no friends and that made it more difficult. I had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. And I was thinking that he was behaving that way because he knew I had no one to protect me. I couldn’t even think about telling about it to my parents or my brother in Serbia because what could they do.
Mia remembered seeing the domestic violence advertisement on television ‘Australia Says No’. This made her think that perhaps there was somewhere she could go. She found a Serbian-speaking solicitor in the Yellow Pages who was willing to give her some free legal advice.
I told her briefly my situation because I was thinking of running away back to my country. I just didn’t think there was another way, a place to escape to. To call the police I am just going to make myself stay here if I call the police, because I knew it would not be legal to run away because I have an Australian kid. I didn’t want the police to stop me. I just didn’t have any other option.
The solicitor advised her of her rights and also told her that there were refuges available to her. She advised Mia to contact the Serbian Consulate. The Consulate advised Mia to contact a migration agent. The migration agent advised Mia that she could take out an AVO against her husband, that she could stay in a women’s refuge and that Mia should find a doctor so she had a formal record of her physical injuries. The migration officer referred her to a psychologist. The psychologist referred Mia to a child protection officer. Mia spoke again with the psychologist who referred Mia to another migration agent. The migration agent referred Mia to a social worker at a welfare agency. The social worker referred her to the Domestic Violence Hotline. The domestic violence hotline worker made an appointment for Mia to meet with a women’s crisis accommodation service.
The crisis accommodation service provided Mia and her son with emergency accommodation and her caseworker helped her contact and meet with a number of other organisations including: the police to make a statement against her husband; Centrelink to receive income support and the Department of Immigration to apply for permanent residency. Mia needed permanent residency in order to get more permanent accommodation, otherwise she and her son would need to keep moving from crisis accommodation to crisis accommodation every three months.
I don’t know what I would do without my caseworker. I knew nothing about Australian system, about Centrelink. I really had no idea about anything.
At the time of the interview Mia had been living in crisis accommodation for four months and her caseworker was trying to find her another crisis accommodation service to move into.
Mia was also on a community housing waiting list. She did not feel she was self-reliant. She was missing her family and was worried that she would not have any support when she moved out of crisis accommodation into community housing. She was worried about who will look after her son if she became ill. She was also concerned that she would not be able to find employment that suited her son’s childcare needs and did not know how she was going survive on income support.
Mia had also been recently advised that she had been granted permanent residency, but she was in two minds about this.
6.7 ‘Kylie’: 26 year old sole parent
Kylie and her two sisters grew up in public housing in southwestern Sydney. Domestic violence was a constant in their lives. Kylie’s sisters also became controlling and violent as they grew up, and Kylie was often the victim of this. She had her first child when she was 20 and her second child was born two years later.
When Kylie was pregnant with her second child she decided that she could not take the fighting and violence at home any more and moved in with a friend. Kylie called the homeless persons’ hotline and was referred to a local women’s crisis accommodation service. She stayed with the service for a short time and the service assisted her in obtaining public housing.
Kylie was grateful for having somewhere of her own to live, but was placed in the same suburb as her family and only a short distance from her sister’s house. Kylie felt she was back in an abusive and controlling environment.
My sister would come up to my house and say can I borrow $20 off you. And if I said I didn’t have it then there was an argument, and I may have only had $30 to my name but just to get her to go away I’d give her the $20.
She’s hit me plenty of times and with two boys there’s no way I want anything like that.
In an attempt to get away from her family’s intimidation and violence, Kylie placed her name on the Department of Housing’s mutual exchange list. However, no one wanted to move to her suburb. She did not bother to place herself on the Department of Housing’s transfer list as she felt this would take many years, and she needed to move herself and her children away as soon as she could.
Kylie decided to move out of her house and moved in with a friend. Again, she contacted the homeless persons’ hotline and spoke with a counsellor. This time, however, Kylie requested that she be referred to crisis accommodation located in another area of Sydney. She and her sons were referred to a crisis accommodation service in southern Sydney in November 2005.
The service provided Kylie and her sons with crisis accommodation for three months. During this time Kylie felt she completely changed. She was provided with regular counselling during her stay, and the support staff taught her how to carry out various household and other duties on a regular basis – skills that she felt she really needed help with. The service also helped her develop her household budgeting skills and provided occasional childcare. This allowed her time to carry out various responsibilities and appointments, or just have some time for herself. The service worked with the Department of Housing to have Kylie placed on the waiting list for housing in the area.
When I came here, and after a certain amount of time, my self-esteem just boosted. My confidence just boosted. I was able to say what I wanted to say. I just felt like a totally different person, because the place is so inviting and you can be totally comfortable as soon as you come here.
Kylie found counselling helpful, but felt it was the constancy of support from the service staff that really improved her life. She believes that there was a big difference between the two crisis accommodation services from whom she received assistance.
The staff here are just always constantly on hand to give you a hand with anything that you need, whereas the staff at the previous refuge were only there from 9.00 to 5.00 and not on weekends. They had video cameras and things all around the area, but they were only there from 9.00 to 5.00 and they barely did anything at all. They just sat upstairs in their office.
After three months the service referred Kylie and her children to another crisis accommodation service in the area. She stayed with this service for four weeks until her public housing placement came through.
Kylie was asked to describe what self-reliance means to her and how self-reliant she currently feels.
That I can do it on my own. Not so much without having to rely on anyone, because I think everyone needs to rely on people. But for me how I feel about it is that I try to rely on myself for everything first, and if I need to I’ll put my hand up for help and stuff like that. But I’m much more able to do things on my own.
On what might hinder her self-reliance, Kylie said.
I don’t know. I guess if I fell into a situation, as in I felt that I had to please everybody. If I was trying to do too much for somebody, I would then be relying on someone else to make me happy. If I push myself too far to help somebody and I’m constantly saying ‘yes, yes, yes’, then I’m falling back into the trap that I was in before.
Kylie is still in regular contact with the service. Her eldest son attends maths tutoring at the service during the school term and Kylie started to have counselling again herself at the beginning of 2007, after a significant violent episode with her sister. The counsellor is also providing her with grief counselling after her mother’s recent death in September.
6.8 ‘Tina’: 26 year old sole parent
Tina moved in with her partner and his family when she was 21. Their two daughters were born over the next 4 years. Her partner was very controlling and would verbally and physically abuse her. Tina’s partner controlled all finances and made all decisions regarding what the family would do on a day-to-day basis. He would not allow her to take the children outside the family home unless accompanied by either himself or his mother. Tina left her partner several times during this period and would stay with her mother.
When Tina’s first child was five months old, Tina moved back in with her mother who was dying of cancer. During this time Tina found out that she was pregnant with their second child. When her mother passed away Tina became homeless. Scared and not aware of any other options, Tina returned to live with her partner and his family.
Her partner’s abuse continued and he started to physically abuse their eldest daughter. He also threatened to harm their newborn daughter.
When she was about three weeks he actually threatened to strangle her because she wouldn’t stop crying. So that was it for me. I don’t know why it took me that long to figure it out.
Tina moved in with her sister but her partner located her. Tina was seeing a grief and loss counsellor at that time and she sought help from her. The counsellor referred Tina to a domestic violence counsellor, who subsequently referred Tina to a women’s crisis accommodation service in southern Sydney.
Tina and her daughters moved into crisis accommodation in May 2006. The service provided her with one-on-one counselling during her stay. The service also provided Tina with initial and ongoing financial assistance to keep her furniture in storage. With two children under the age of two years, she also found the service’s occasional childcare very helpful for her counselling appointments and for respite. The service also referred Tina to a domestic violence support group at another local service, which Tina found very helpful.
Tina stayed in crisis accommodation for a little over three months and was then placed in the one of the service’s transitional housing properties. The service provided her with furniture and whitegoods, and paid for a removalist to collect her furniture from storage.
Tina is currently studying for her Business Certificate III at TAFE. As she is studying, she is also eligible for subsidised childcare.
Tina was asked to describe what self-reliance means to her and how self-reliant she currently feels.
I think just being able to - with your finances and stuff - being able to support yourself and your children. Just trying to do things for yourself on your own decision. Not relying on someone else to make decisions for you and things like that.
It was a bit scary at first, leaving the service, because even though I knew I was going into another program which has a lot of support as well, I was still paying rent, electricity and food, so it wasn’t as much support as I was getting at this service.
When Tina first moved into transitional accommodation she felt apprehensive because she had never lived on her own before. However, she believes that the crisis accommodation service prepared her well for living on her own. Previously Tina’s mother or partner had made all the decisions for her.
Tina was asked to comment on what might hinder her self-reliance.
I suppose if I went into a relationship that turned sour. I think if I didn’t have the sole parent pension too, without that I would be completely lost I think. That’s a big help. And just living where I am at the moment I don’t think that I would be able to afford private rent because I’m paying a subsidised rent. And I think that if I wasn’t still in the support program I definitely would not be where I am today.
When Tina’s grandmother recently passed away she sought grief and loss counselling from the service. Tina and her daughters are in regular contact with the service and attend various social events organised by them, such as family picnic days.
Tina and her daughters can remain in their transitional housing property for two years. She has applied for public housing from the Department of Housing, but was advised that she is not eligible for priority housing and that there is a twelve-year wait time.
6.9 ‘Kirra’: 38 year old sole parent, of Maori descent
Kirra was working night shifts but could not find childcare for her daughter, who had recently returned to live with her after living interstate with her father. Kirra’s employer refused her request to work day shifts, so Kirra had to leave her job to care for her daughter in the evenings. She fell behind in rent payments for her private rental accommodation and they were evicted. Kirra was also recovering from the effects of domestic violence and the subsequent court proceedings with her previous partner.
Kirra and her daughter were homeless when they approached Centrelink for an emergency payment and contacted a welfare agency for food vouchers. The welfare agency referred her to the homeless persons hotline, which then referred them to a crisis accommodation service. Kirra and her daughter stayed at this service for four days. They were then referred to another crisis accommodation service where they stayed for just under three months.
Kirra’s caseworker helped Kirra obtain parenting payment from Centrelink. In addition, the service provided her with group domestic violence counselling and encouraged Kirra’s daughter, who had developed suicidal ideation, to also consider counselling. Her daughter did not want counselling but accepted their referral to attend art therapy. Kirra believes this helped her daughter enormously.
The service helped Kirra enrol in a TAFE course to study social work. Kirra is also looking for part-time work but finding it difficult.
I’ve tried to find work, but it is really hard as a single mum because if you can find work that’s fine but the problem is the hours and trying to put it around my daughter. Because she is a teenager it’s really hard to find someone who will watch her at her age. And I can’t leave her at home on her own.
Kirra was asked to describe what self-reliance means to her.
Myself. Reliance. What am I capable of and able to do. It’s up to me. I’ve always had the motto, ‘If I want to do something no one is going to do it for you’. I have to do it myself.
Asking for help, however, is something that Kirra now feels more comfortable doing and that this was an important lesson she learnt during her stay in the service. The service has also changed her perception of people generally, and she now believes that there are people who are willing to help her.
I didn’t realise I was such a proud person. I was so closed-minded.
Kirra was asked to comment on what might hinder her self-reliance.
Are you talking material? Nothing. I have no idea. I don’t really know until I come across it to be honest. I’ve always been like there must be some way of doing it.
The service helped Kirra and her daughter find and move into subsidised, transitional housing in March 2007. The service currently supports them through fortnightly visits from the service’s outreach worker. Kirra finds this support helpful as she is currently dealing with a custody case with her daughter’s father.
Kirra feels she has a long way to go before she is fully independent. She must leave transitional housing in January 2008 and is having difficulty finding a private rental. If she is able to find a place she is not sure she will be able to pay rent as well as buy food.
Now I have to tell my story again at the end of the year because I have to find my own accommodation. It’s looking like I might have to return back to the service. I don’t want to but no one is giving me anything to rent because I am not working. No one wants to touch me because I am not working and I am a single mum.
Kirra is currently trying to find a place to rent beyond metropolitan Sydney.
6.10 Summary of issues
The clients whose stories we were able to obtain do not fully represent the SAAP clientele as a whole, even those who had made significant progress towards self-reliance. Most were women, for whom domestic violence was a significant factor in bringing them to a SAAP service for help. While there was one young man amongst them, we were not able to capture the experiences of older homeless men. Nevertheless, the case studies provide a useful illustration of the forms of assistance services provide and the impact that they have on recipients.
All clients were currently receiving income support, but most were now engaged in some form of education or training. All were still in regular contact with the program staff and were receiving some form of ongoing counselling or personal support.
For most participants, self-reliance meant learning how not to rely on another significant person, usually their parents and/or partner, for money, or to do things for them or make decisions for them.
The majority of participants are still receiving subsidised rental housing through the program, or through another government-funded service to which they had been referred. Thus the idea of no longer relying on the program, either through subsidised housing and/or ongoing counselling, was not something they looked forward to with confidence. Some expressed concern about how they would cope when they were no longer receiving SAAP support, especially in terms of finding their own accommodation and employment, and in managing financially.