Two Sydney schoolgirls left to care for quadriplegic mother
Two extraordinary Sydney schoolgirls have cooked, cleaned and cared for their quadriplegic mother for the past five years.
Rose and Stella Cox were only eight and three years old when their mum Caroline was left a quadriplegic after contracting neurological condition transverse myelitis.
Rose, now thirteen, and Stella, now eleven, have only just been granted government support to help care for their mum.
Last week, the federal government announced they would pour $96 million into a program to help thousands of young carers and students, in a bid to break the cycle of welfare dependency.
One of the groups to receive welfare is the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation, an organisation that gives Rose and Stella the opportunity to take time out from their caretaker roles.
Rose, now 13, said she has been a primary carer for for most of her childhood and has only just started receiving $123 a fortnight from the government.
"I had to clean, cook, everything under the sun that you could think of. Waking up getting myself ready for primary school, getting my sister ready for daycare," Rose told Sunrise.
The Strathfield Girls High School student said it was tough taking on so much responsibility at such a young age, but claimed the only thing she would change about her life is eliminating the pain her mother suffers daily.
“I do think sometimes life is unfair, but I believe that things happen for a reason and it's happened to me and I've just got to make the best of the situation,” Rose said.
Stella, now 11, has also taken on the role as a primary carer and sleeps next to her mother every night in case something goes wrong.
"I will get up and unblock her catheter and if that doesn't get unblocked her blood pressure rises which increases the chance of having a stroke," she said.
"This is how it is so we just get on with it."
Ms Cox said she couldn’t be prouder of her girls.
“Rose is the vice captain of a 1,200 kid school, Stella goes to a primary school of 600 kids and she's the school captain I think we're doing ok as a unit,” she told 7 News.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter claimed the government program will help 11,000 young carers in the welfare system.
He said it would be up and running by next year.
The Kookaburra Kids Foundation is not-for-profit organisation that supports and cares for more than 1300 young people who have adult responsibilities and also those who are living in families affected by mental illness.
