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SAP102 Integrated Welfare System of Australia: Case Study of Disabled Women Assessment 3 Answer

ASSESSMENT 3: INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT (ESSAY)

Written Essay on a Given Case Study  

This assessment builds on your theoretical knowledge and aims to put that theoretical learning into application.

For this assessment, you will be required to choose a case study from the list provided below. You are then required to prepare an essay, proposing an overall detailed and integrated welfare system as a specific response to your chosen scenario. In your essay, you must:

  • Identify & describe how the welfare system/s is relevant to the case study and how it addresses disadvantage
  • Identify & investigate resources and support services for the case study chosen and consider the funding system of the welfare system which delivers services & evaluate the services suitable for the scenario
  • Explain links between human rights and welfare systems with an analysis of the protection of vulnerable groups in the community (as per the case study chosen)
  • Word Count: 1200-1500 words

Case study options for Assessment 3

1. James is a 21-year-old man. He has a history of growing up with family violence and as a result he spent a lot of time in foster care and residential homes. He is Aboriginal but does not know much about his heritage and is having some identity issues. He has recently left foster care and is getting pressure from his friends to engage more in alcohol and drugs. He is not sure what is next for him, he doesn’t have a job and feels overwhelmed about life.  

Consider the following:

What are the issues for James?

What can be done here for James if he attended your place of work & you were asked to assist him?

Who can help? What services can help James and how could James be encouraged to engage with these services?

2. Vivian is a single mum with two children. She recently left a marriage due to domestic and family violence and has been staying with friends. She keeps applying for houses and flats to rent but her applications keep getting rejected. She is worried as she keeps moving from house to house and knows that she cannot stay with her friends forever. All of this moving is making it hard for her to keep her kids at school and to hold down a job. She is struggling financially and does not know what to do. She was married for ten years and her husband was in control of the income and was both physically and emotionally violent. She feels she has no skills to get a job as her husband refused to let her work as a nurse even though she is qualified as one.

Consider the following:

What are the issues which are making Vivian feel overwhelmed?

What are Vivian’s risk factors having recently left an abusive marriage?

3. Beth is 76 years old. She has a great family that supports her quite well and does not want to go into a nursing home. Beth was unable to renew her driver’s licence a few years ago because her eyesight had begun to deteriorate. Her husband passed away two years ago, and Beth is starting to feel lonely as slowly her friends are starting to pass away as well, and her social circle is shrinking. She is not as social as she used to be. Although Beth’s family come and visit her weekly, she feels they are busy with their own lives. Beth does not want to be a burden as she feels she still can give back to the community. Beth struggles to clean the house and crime has increased in the area in which she lives and is worried that something might happen to her because she is old and an easy target for criminals.

Consider the following:

What are Beth’s major priorities in terms of needs?  Take into consideration Beth’s age.

What welfare services can be offered to Beth and how may these assist?

4. Fatima is 24 and has been in a wheelchair since she was two. She wants more independence as she still lives at home with her mum and dad. She has not been able to find suitable accommodation options for her that support her needs. Fatima wants to be out and about like other young people but feels like her wheelchair and her protective parents are stopping her from being able to do things like other young people and she is starting to feel depressed about this. 

Consider the following:  

What sorts of obstacles could Fatima be facing in trying to find suitable accommodation to support someone living with a disability?

What would assist Fatima in developing her independence in the long term?

5. Aaron is 45 and has suffered depression and anxiety since he was a teenager. He was recently admitted to hospital due to a panic attack and lost his job due to having too many days off because of his mental health challenges. He has some supportive friends, but they seem to not know how to help or support him anymore. Aaron’s ex-wife has sole responsibility of their five-year-old child and even though Aaron has a good friendship with his ex -wife, he feels like he has failed as a parent and is failing at life in general. 

Consider the following:

What are some of Aaron’s lifelong issues?

What do you think is important to Aaron?

What would be one of the first welfare services Aaron might need?

6. Hyein was originally an asylum seeker and is aged 18. She recently gained refugee status in Australia six months ago. She is the only one in her family that made it to Australia. Hyein does not speak much English and is traumatised due to her experiences in her country of origin. Hyein feels frightened and anxious as she does not know where to begin with regard to starting life in Australia. She really wanted to be a doctor and is hoping she can somehow make this dream come true.

Consider the following:

What are some of the particular challenges faced by refugees in Australia?

What would be a good starting point for Hyein in creating a life in Australia?

7. Tash is 16 and has been in foster care for 2 years. She recently ran away and is now living in a residential unit where she met another young person who was recently caught stealing cars. Tash really likes her new friend and has stopped going to school. Tash has a few friends that have been involved in Youth Justice and thinks they are cool because they went to foster care just like her and because of this commonality they have an understanding. Some of her friends are in prison at the moment and Tash is really missing them. Some days she wishes she was in with them just so they can be together again.  Tash really wants to be a diesel mechanic one day because she loves cars and had heard that her grandfather that she never met was a race car driver. 

Consider the following:

The experiences of children in foster care

How can community service professionals empower those in the child protection system, moving them away from destructive behaviours to those than can have long term benefits?

8. Tom is a 70-year-old man who has worked hard all his life. He is a proud man who has been living off his savings from his previous employment before retiring and currently lives in a private rental property. He was never married and has no kids. His rent has been increasing every year and his savings are running out making Tom very concerned about his future. He also finds it difficult to go out of the house due to feeling unstable on his feet. This has created concerns with his ability to shop for food and address daily activities which has further impacted his health. Tom has also started to feel depressed due to his isolation.

Consider the following:

What are the factors that Tom would appear to be concerned about with regard to his future?

What does Tom need to increase his quality of life & therefore his welfare and wellbeing?

9. Samantha is a 28-year-old Aboriginal single mother of a 2-year-old son. Samantha lives in social housing and is currently not working. She receives some Centrelink benefits to care for her son. There are concerns of Samantha’s current boyfriend who has been staying with her, that he is abusing Samantha when he has too much to drink as reported by Samantha’s neighbour. Samantha is keen to get back to school and get work that would accommodate her son’s needs as well as allow her to move out of social housing as she doesn’t feel it is a suitable environment for her son. Most of her family lives out in the country making it difficult to help care for her son or follow her dreams.

Consider the following:

What are Samantha’s needs? 

Take into consideration how Samantha may be feeling.

What welfare services can be offered to Samantha so as she can move forward considering her desire to leave social housing and re-engage with education?

10. Bobby is a 20-year-old male who has lived with his grandmother most of his life. He has recently been couch surfing with friends but has overstayed his welcome. He is not sure where he will sleep tonight and has no money for a hotel. He has been using marijuana and alcohol on a regular basis to escape all the stress he feels in his life. Bobby has never been very good at school and finds it difficult to concentrate so he dropped out after completing year 10.

Consider the following:

What may be some of the factors in Bobby’s early family experience which saw him live with his grandmother most of his life?

What are the priorities that a community services professional will need to ascertain in order to assist Bobby?

Answer

Introduction:

The purpose of this report is to assess a case study to understand and identify the integrated welfare system of Australia. The essay is based on the case study of a 24 years old Fatima who is physically disabled and is on a wheelchair since she was two. As Fatima wants to become an independent woman and wants to move out from her parent's house just like any other young person, she might face some hazard to find suitable accommodation for herself due to her disability. The case study suggests the obstacles Fatima could face in her journey, solutions that may help Fatima to develop her independence and a conclusion of the overall study. Lastly, the report ends with an acknowledgement of resources used to analyze the welfare system.  

Analysis: 

People with long-term mental, physical, intellectual impairments in interaction with different sort of boundaries that may obstruct their participation in the community or society on a day to day basis can be considered as disabled person (Leonardi et al. 2006). This include disabilities that exist presently, does not exist now but previously existed, imputed and may exist in future. In this case study of Fatima, a person with a physical disability and she is in a wheelchair. As Fatima wants suitable accommodation for her, she faces difficulty in doing that. Although there are government schemes like NDIS, Fatima just like most of the people with disabilities in her country is facing problems and less support while finding a suitable dwelling. Most of the disabled person does not get adequate support coming from the community which already makes lives difficult. Especially while finding proper housing they feel backlash from the community.  

The implementation of NDIS which stands for the National Disability Insurance Scheme created an opportunity for people similar to Fatima. The scheme was introduced across Australia from July 2016 and it provides 500,000 Australian with permanent and significant disability, funding support and services (National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), 2020). Though the scheme is notably helping disable people to access services, the lack of communication and interface between the mainstream service and NDIS is producing boundaries. This created barriers and went against the arrangement of all the due services the disabled person could get. The services include habilitation and rehabilitation. Lack of clarity in the interactions within mainstream services and NDIS is resulting controversies. This lead to a lack of access to the services for the participants of NDIS. This brings the question of how much the provision will be adopted and supported by society (Foster, 2016). The state government programs are supporting most of the people to afford a suitable housing in the market but still, a significant percentage is not appropriately accommodated as some of them still are living in institutions because of lack of access to other options. The privet rental housing is way more costly to afford for some of them like Fatima (The Rights of People with Disabilities: Areas of Need for Increased Protection: Chapter 4: Accommodation | Australian Human Rights Commission, 2020). In most cases, there is a lack of funding and support in reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodation can be defined as services provided with rudiment adjustments and modifications. To find accommodation through public housing is also becoming difficult with the date. And to obtain the access it is becoming even more hazardous (Saugeres, 2011). To add to all these obstacles Fatima, being in a wheelchair could face a severe elimination from the society as well. Sometimes, the policies of territory housing authority can discriminate the people regarding their disabilities. Often housing agents and landlords discriminate directly and do not provide their due services based on their disabilities. In instance, some community or some people even support that and that makes it difficult and uncomforting for disabled persons to find a suitable inhabitation.

As Fatima is dealing with finding herself a proper accommodation and may face a backlash from the society and issues regarding lack of access to the services provided by the commonwealth and state governments, she needs to understand the rights of her to process the whole situation. If Fatima gets aware of her rights and what should she ask for herself it will help in boosting her confidence and develop her independence as well. As per the Australian government, legal, political and social system became unsuccessful to treat the disabled person as a person first. Generally, the provided services do not meet the desired service models which are appropriate for the disabled people. Sometimes this leads to human rights abuse (Human rights violations – People with Disability Australia, 2020).  People with a disability require social support that can give domestic services, personal care and support in living skills. However, these rights have been exploited at a national level. In cases, systems violate human rights (Evans, 2004). According to the Disability Services Act 1986, the people with a disability regarding any origin, nature, type or degree of disability, have similar fundamental rights as of all Australians. 

This Act follows the principles of freedom from abuse that is residents have right to be free from emotional, verbal, physical and sexual abuse; freedom of movement that is residents have rights of moving freely and self-determination that is residents have rights of making their own choices and decisions in every aspect of life. Further, the act has the principles of residency agreements, complaints, privacy and confidentiality relationships and sexuality, money management and personal possessions. Apart from this, The Disability Services Act has two objectives according to accommodation services namely accommodation support services that are services that will assist people with disabilities to improve decent residential arrangements in the society and respite care services that will assist the families or person with disabilities within a community for a limited period of time.

Despite this Act, often disable people, their families and lawyers complaint about these accommodation service providers as they do not get along with the provisions of the Disability Services Act (Disability Support and Services in Australia – Parliament of Australia, 2020).

Fatima needs to know all of her rights mentioned above. These are the principles that will provide her with due services and help her to move out of her parent’s house. As there is a chance of her facing discrimination or other issues regarding accessibility in finding herself a house, she needs to be more confident and aware of her rights. Awareness about the rights will help her to become more independent (Ward, 2006)

Conclusion:

The case study of Fatima indicates that people with disabilities could face some serious difficulties in the community. Although there are plenty of Acts and services provided by the Australian government, the execution of them in the mainstream level is almost negligible. Whether it is about accommodation or any other services, Fatima and people similar to her disabilities could face discrimination in the society and thus can be neglected as an eligible person to get their owing facilities. Despite various amenities provided by the government disable people hesitate to ask for their rights. The difficulties faced by Fatima can be resolved if she is more aware of her rights. The Disability Service Act 1986, Human Rights Violation provisions, NIDS and some other Acts and initiatives by the governments ensure to protect and provide the disabled person with their rights and a healthy environment. 

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