'Stab in the back': Centrelink rejects family of 3-year-old battling cancer
Madison Sullivan and her husband Mitchell were still reeling from their young son’s aggressive cancer diagnosis when Centrelink told them their application for Carer’s Payment had been rejected.
Three-year-old Lukas had been diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma –– a rare and aggressive childhood cancer –– in July, barely a week after he began complaining of stomach pain at daycare.
As the Sullivan family’s world descended into a whirlwind of immediate and intensive treatment involving chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, both parents needed to take leave from their full-time jobs. While Mr Sullivan kept the family afloat on his reduced hours, Ms Sullivan needed to take leave as a midwife to be Lukas’ full-time carer.
On the advice of the family’s social worker, the Sullivans had applied for Carer’s Payment which would assist them with $641 a fortnight. However, after a month-long wait, they received the news last Thursday it had been rejected.
Centrelink told the family the care the little boy received on a day-to-day basis was not demanding enough for his mum to be eligible as his carer.
“They’re saying that regardless of him having stage four cancer and being on an aggressive treatment plan for 12 months [we don’t] meet the requirements. Which is just so bizarre,” Ms Sullivan told Yahoo News Australia.
“They said the care [Lukas receives] is not high enough which is just crazy.
“He needs ‘round-the-clock care.”
The family currently receives Carer’s Allowance –– a fortnightly income suppliant from Centrelink of $129.80 –– but Ms Sullivan said it only “just” covers the cost of fuel to get Lukas from their home in the NSW Southern Highlands to the Children’s Hospital in Sydney –– a round-trip which can take anywhere between three and five hours, depending on traffic.
Prior to their son’s diagnosis, Ms Sullivan said she had heard stories about carers struggling to get the financial assistance they needed to care for sick family members but Centrelink’s response to her own situation had left her gobsmacked.
“It’s a stab in the back,” she said.
“It’s like they’re saying [looking after someone with cancer] doesn’t need that much care. The people that reject it –– I’d like to see them have to deal with it.”
The family plans to appeal Centrelink’s decision.
‘Something needs to be changed’
Publicity about the Sullivan’s Centrelink rejection has prompted a wave of people going through similar situations to reach out to the family.
One person in a similar situation told her that they appealed their rejection from Centrelink “six or seven times” before they were finally accepted and granted Carer’s Payment.
“People are just not getting the help they need... Something needs to be changed about it,” Ms Sullivan said.
“I don’t know how [Centrelink] can say the level of care is not high enough for someone who’s got cancer.”
While the little boy is temporarily back at home in Tahmoor, in the Southern Highlands, after undergoing aggressive chemotherapy in hospital and an operation to have his tumour removed, Lukas’ next big fight will see him back in hospital in two weeks’ time for a bone marrow transplant, requiring a stay in isolation for up to eight weeks.
The family plans to appeal Centrelink’s decision –– which Ms Sullivan encourages others in similar situations to also do.
According to 7News, The Department of Human Services is standing by its decision.
Yahoo News Australia has also contacted the DHS over the matter.
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