Communities and Justice

Kim and Karma's story transcript

Kim: I have five kids and having a child with special needs is utterly exhausting. Karma has short gut syndrome. She has a central line that she has nutrients go through to keep her alive.

She was in hospital for the first three years of her life. There was no set routine, we were back and forth from the hospital constantly. I just wanted Karma to be able to come home.

I was already in government housing at that time. That house was not suitable for Karma’s needs. She has chronic asthma and at the time, she was also vomiting a lot. For Karma to be able to come home from hospital I needed a house with minimal carpet and an extra bedroom.

Annette: As a specialist officer, I would only look into the very high-needs cases and she was a very young, scared mother who wasn’t exactly quite sure about how to make the world right for her family. Kimberly and her mother had gone to get training to undertake all of Karma’s medical needs at home. However, they still didn’t have a home that was going to be safe for her.

Karma had not spent a Christmas at home. So it was very important for us to be able to bring the family together so that Karma could experience her first Christmas at home.

Kim: Annette was amazing she was always there if I needed any help, or if I had any questions, I could just call and she would answer them. She made the whole process a lot easier.

Annette: I had a chart of modified properties open that we started with. We identified which of those properties were large enough that were going to meet her needs. I then invited in the occupational therapist that had been working with Karma to then come in and view the property and make some recommendations. We then invited Land and Housing Corporation to undertake those modifications to the property. We also invited Kimberly here to ensure that she would accept the property and she was over the moon.

Kim: It’s amazing to think of the amount of changes that they made to make sure the house was suitable for Karma, and how many people worked together to be able to bring Karma home from the hospital. We signed the lease on the 23rd of December and Karma was home for Christmas Eve.

Annette: We can make a difference in clients’ lives when we band together as a team and involve the other agencies. Policy and procedure can only get you so far. If we can tailor our approach to each individual client ensuring that they don’t feel that they are a number in the line, we’ll come up with far better long term security for a number of our clients.

Kim: When Karma was born, the doctors gave her six months and she is now five. She has started school this year in kindergarten and she’s doing really well.

Annette: It’s stories like these where I know that I can make a difference in people’s lives. Karma is now part of everyday life here and I’m very glad to have been part of that process.

Kim: While she was in the hospital, she was stuck in a cot 24/7 so she was developmentally delayed. But since being home and having the other kids to interact with, she has progressed so much. I feel excitement and joy and just so proud.

Return to home at last.

Last updated:

02 May 2023