The Social Security Act doesn’t define exactly what “broken down” means.
However, Work and Income may give a narrow interpretation to these words and refuse you the benefit if it decides that you were responsible for the breakdown. For example, if you’ve left home because you disagreed with certain rules that your parents insisted you comply with, you may need to satisfy Work and Income that it was reasonable for you to refuse to comply with those rules.
An organisation independent of Work and Income will assess whether your relationship with your parents has broken down, if you’re applying for the Youth Payment on that basis. The assessor then makes a recommendation to Work and Income, who make the final decision. Family breakdown assessments are currently carried out by Barnardos.
The assessor will interview your natural parents and your caregivers and may also interview other people, such as teachers or social workers. If the assessor decides there hasn’t been a family breakdown, but you believe the assessor didn’t talk to all the people it needed to in order to make a proper assessment, this may be grounds for you to challenge a refusal to grant you the Youth Payment, see “Challenging Work and Income decisions: Reviews and appeals” in this chapter.