In February, Sarah Hammond* received a phone call from her daughter's psychologist who told her the 17-year-old's disability support worker, Tomas Hopkins, was in jail.
"I sat my daughter down and told her that Tom had been arrested for sexual assault on another girl he worked with as a support worker," Ms Hammond said.
"After some time, when she'd had a chance to digest that, she called me into her room and told me that he'd been inappropriate with her too."
Ms Hammond hired Hopkins, a 28-year-old who would later plead guilty to eight charges relating to child sex offences, to work one-on-one with her daughter, Rachel*.
Hopkins's role in the Hammond household was to give Rachel some independence from Ms Hammond.
Ms Hammond, a single mother, worked to support and provide for her daughter's needs without government assistance until six months ago, when Rachel received an autism diagnosis.
"I didn't even know there was such a thing as the NDIS," Ms Hammond said.
"I found it really difficult to understand.
Unregistered workers
The National Disability Insurance Scheme provides billions of dollars in federal funding to Australians with disabilities.
As well as allocating funding, it aims to connect participants with service providers.
What Ms Hammond did not realise was that she had enlisted the help of a support worker and support coordinator who were not registered with the NDIS, meaning Hopkins did not go through the extensive screening check process.
To Ms Hammond's surprise, the NDIS placed the onus for checking a disability support worker's qualifications and appropriate checks on her, rather than any of the agencies and supports employed to assist her.
No-one told Ms Hammond she could – and should – ask to see Mr Hopkins's working-with-children card and police clearance.
How could this happen?
While Hopkins had no prior convictions before being employed by Ms Hammond, Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston said the case exposed serious flaws within the NDIS framework.
Ms Johnston said after royal commissions into aged care, child sex abuse, and now abuse of people with disabilities, there should be a better handle on how predators prey on vulnerable people.
"It's not good enough," she said.
"At the end of the day you can't leave it to people without any experience, any expertise, and particularly vulnerable people, to be doing these checks and balances on their own."
Ms Johnston said it should be the responsibility of the government to verify that the people receiving government funds were fit for the job.
"I am 100 per cent disgusted that nobody checked to make sure this person was fit to be working with our most vulnerable — it's a no-brainer," she said.
"There's just no way that any competent regulatory structure would allow that to happen."
Communication issues
Leanne Pearman, the co-chief executive of WA Individualised Services, said there was no inherent issue with unregistered providers or participants managing their own funds and services.
She said those were among the most successful and important parts of the NDIS.
Ms Pearman said the issue lay with the government and support coordinators' continued failure to properly inform and educate clients and families.
"People need consistency, quantity and an integrity of information at each point of the NDIS process to ensure that they can make informed decisions about the support they want and need," she said.
Ms Pearman said the NDIS was a large bureaucratic system that was often challenging for participants.
"When you don't have the quality or correct or timely information that you require, it becomes near impossible to navigate," she said.
"We've seen that people often want to give up and go, 'This NDIS thing's too hard.'"
Ms Pearman said the NDIS needed several important overhauls because in its current form it too often failed its participants.
"People are seen as consumers or commodities within a market and not seen as real people, and lives that can be completely unhinged by the way in which the system goes about its processes," she said.
In a statement, the NDIS Safety Commission said all participants could request their service providers to complete an NDIS working screening check.
"All NDIS providers, both registered and unregistered, are required to comply with the NDIS code of conduct, which includes the requirement that providers and their workers deliver supports and services in a safe and competent manner, with care and skill," they said.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the survivor.
