Jean carers for Moya

President and Founder, Jean Tops, cares for Moya who is now 44 years old.  Moya is deaf/legally blind and intellectually disabled as a result of Rubella Syndrome. Jean says:

Families who provide personal care and accommodation to people with dependent disabilities and frailty have a right to expect support from the general community that benefits from their substantial contributions to society. This freely given gift by more than 2.9 million Carers is conservatively estimated to be over $40billion nationwide and annually. 

We believe that family carers are not receiving the recognition, rights and support they deserve.

We are determined to make a difference and to ‘break the silence’ on unpaid caring by working to establish Regional Carer Support Networks across the nation. Regional Networks will ensure that family Carers can access peer support, information about services and supports and be involved in their local communities through participation.  

Carers also have a right to expect to have a 'voice' in policy and planning at the grass roots level. Paid service providers, angencies and disability self advocacy all have a place at the policy and planning table. This is discriminatory because caring families provide over 93% of all supported accommodation for people with a dependent disability or frailty.

Family carers want grass roots input, and to have a say about planning that so directly affects their lives as unpaid providers of accommodation and personal support services. This does not happen now and will not happen until governments remove discrinination against family carers and fund regional Carer Support Networks across the nation.

By offering peer support to caring families, we aim to empower Carers to take control of the issues that adversely affect their lives. Paramount in our work is the knowledge that Carers respond to us because we are ourselves Carers and we understand the stresses, the anxiety and fears they experience.    

Together we can make a difference, together we can influence positive reforms for all Carers and their families. 

You can join us in our campaigns to make a better deal for caring families.

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