By Lisa Visentin
The mother of an autistic teenager said her decision to restrain her son with chains was a "big mistake", and one she made in a moment of high stress and illness.
Fawziya Adam, 38, drew widespread condemnation after she left her severely autistic son chained to his bed while she walked to the doctor's surgery on Tuesday.
Single mother-of-five Ms Adam, a Sudanese refugee who fled the Darfur conflict, said she loved her son and would "do anything for him".
Her decision to restrain him was motivated not by malice, but a fear he would hurt himself if left alone in the house, she said.
Mother Fawziya Adam says she made a mistake restraining her son, who has autism.
"I used to take him everywhere with me, but now he is strong. This time I was scared because the last time he ran away and pushed me and people in the street and the chemist.
"That's why I didn't take him with me."
The incident has highlighted the lack of support and services available to parents of disabled children, particularly in western Sydney, where the National Disability Insurance Scheme is yet to be rolled out.
Adrian Thompson, CEO of Josephite Community Aid, said his organisation had worked with Ms Adam and her family for over a decade, providing her children with homework help, school holiday activities and ensuring the children had Christmas presents.
Police remove the boy from his Blacktown home.
He described her as a loving mother who would go to immense lengths to care for her child.
"I have seen the love this mother has for her kids. I have seen her go through so much just to help him be part of the community.
"He can act out. I've seen him do it. But I've seen her care for him so well."
Mr Thompson said his volunteers made an impromptu visit to Ms Adam's Blacktown home on Tuesday to invite her and the family on a charity-run weekend trip. When they discovered the teenager alone in the front bedroom of the house, they made numerous attempts to call Ms Adam on her mobile but couldn't get hold of her.
Everyone who knows me, everyone from the community, knows I love my son.
Mother Fawziya Adam
Mr Thompson said he joined the volunteers at Ms Adam's home and, upon realising the teenager was chained to the bed, immediately alerted authorities.
When Ms Adam returned to home around midday, her house was teeming with police, paramedics and officers from Fire and Rescue NSW.
"I was very scared. I thought maybe there is a fire," she said.
Instead, emergency services had broken into the home, freed him from the chain and carried him on a stretcher into a waiting ambulance.
Mr Thompson said Ms Adam became visibly distressed and was clearly unwell.
Recounting the incident, Ms Adam said her son usually attended William Rose School, a special needs school in Seven Hills, during the week but she had been too ill to take him on Tuesday.
With no other help to call upon, Ms Adam said she felt she had no option but to leave him at home alone while she walked to a nearby doctor's surgery and chemist to pick up medication for them both.
The teenager had run away from the family's Blacktown home on numerous occasions, she said, and she feared he might do it again while she made the 45-minute round trip to the doctor's surgery and the shops.
"If I didn't tie him like this, he would run away in the street, no coming back. He would go and not stop. The cars are dangerous and he doesn't understand about cars.
"That's why I was scared, the cars would hit him."
Several neighbours told Fairfax Media they often saw the teenager running in the street, sometimes naked.
Ultimately, the decision to chain him to the bed was a "big, big mistake", Ms Adam said.
"Never, never, never, never, ever again.
"Everyone who knows me, everyone from the community, knows I love my son.
"I've taken care of him for 16 years. I do everything for him. I feed him, give him medicine, everything. I have no help. No one from the government or anywhere comes to help me."
On Wednesday, Nicole Rogerson, the CEO of not-for-profit organisation Autism Awareness Australia called for compassion, not judgment, for parents raising autistic children.
"There are some families that are absolutely at breaking point, and whilst I do not condone it in any way - abuse and restraint of an individual with autism is just never OK - I'm not going to pretend like we don't understand how these things occur.
"I think we should be grown up enough to have a wider conversation."