Families need support before crisis
3 mins read
Monday 17 August 2026
Our CEO, Anna Bird, has written in the Guardian about the urgent need for families raising disabled children to receive support early – before exhaustion becomes a crisis.
In her letter, Anna highlights what parent carers tell us every day. Families need timely access to support in the home, short breaks and services that recognise and respond to the needs of parent carers as well as those of their disabled children. Some families are blamed simply for asking for the support their child is entitled to and subjected to unnecessary and unwarranted safeguarding investigations.
Contact wants to see clearer rights for parent carers to have their needs assessed. We are urging the government to adopt the Law Commission’s recommendations for a single duty to assess the needs of parent carers.
We know that, for too many families, support comes too late. Our helpline continues to hear from parent carers experiencing problems with social care, including difficulties getting their needs assessed, reductions in support, delays and shortages of suitable staff and local services. Anna’s letter follows a Guardian investigation into the experience of one family and the devastating consequences of a system that failed to provide the support they needed.
We have also written letters highlighting how the current social care system is failing families to the Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister and Louise Casy who has been tasked with reviewing the adult social care system as part of the new Prime Minster Andy Burnham’s priorities.
PLEASE NOTE: The Guardian investigation discusses suicide and bereavement. We recognise that this may be distressing for some parent carers. You do not need to read the investigation to understand the issues raised in Anna’s letter.
Read Anna’s letter in the Guardian.
If you are a parent carer and need support you can get in touch with our helpline via freephone, email, web form or social media for advice and support from our team of parent advisers.
Ask your MP to act on disabled children’s social care
Disabled children’s social care provides vital practical support, including short breaks (respite), personal care and help at home. The Law Commission has set out a blueprint to fix the outdated system and make it fairer, simpler and kinder for families. The Government is due to respond by 16 September.
We need your help to raise awareness of the importance of a good social care system for disabled children. Email your MP about your experience – good and bad of getting help from social services.