More families caring for severely disabled adult children are gearing up for a fight against the Ministry of Health.
Diane Moody won her case against the Health Ministry, but another 13 families are now taking the ministry to court Photo: RNZ / Screenshot
The government has asked ministry officials for advice about 13 cases now before the High Court.
In opposition, Labour promised to review Funded Family Care, the previous government's initiative to pay people for caring for severly disabled adult children in their families.
The previous government said 1600 families would be eligible to receive funding from the scheme.
However, only 354 adults are accessing the scheme, figures provided by the ministry today show.
Last week, Diane Moody, who cares for her 51-year-old son Shane, won a case against the ministry in the Court of Appeal.
Another mother, whose situation is not one of the 13 the cases before court, cares for a 31-year-old daughter who has Down Syndrome, Graves disease - which affects her thyroid - and was diagnosed with schizophrenia as an adolescent.
The woman says her daughter requires constant care to supervise her, feed her, calm her and ensure she receives her medication.
"It's quite clear that somebody needs to do these things for her all the time - and if I'm not doing them then somebody else needs to do them."
However, the woman receives no payment for the caring she provides, despite appearing to qualify for Funded Family Care.
Instead she works, with the Health Ministry paying someone else to care for her daughter while she is out of the house - work the mother would not be paid for if she did it herself.
Lawyer Simon Judd, who represents the 13 families before court, said his clients were in the same position as Diane Moody.
"The basic issue is these people have provided care for their family members for many years.
"As a result the state has not had to provide that care so the state hasn't incurred the cost - in other words, if the family members had refused to look after their disabled family members then the state would've incurred the cost ... so ... isn't it just fair that [families] be compensated for that?"
Labour promised in its election manifesto to repeal the Funded Family Care scheme and ensure family members were paid fairly, Mr Judd said.
"We're hopeful that with the new government and the new minister there will be a different attitude and perhaps we can avoid having to go through another court case."
