Home Practitioners Advice Returning to work
4 mins read
Like everyone else, parents of disabled children need paid employment for financial reasons. Caring for a disabled child also involves significant extra expenditure over a much longer period of time.
Going out to work reduces the isolation commonly experienced by parents with disabled children. In common with other mothers returning to work, mothers of disabled children report increased self-esteem and an identity outside their caring/parenting role.
Although some parents of disabled children actively make the choice to stay at home to care for their child, for the vast majority of parents this is not a choice, but a situation forced upon them. Parents highlight the following barriers:
Sometimes parents with disabled children are made to feel like they are ‘expected’ to stay at home and care for their child by professionals. This further restricts their right to a life beyond their caring responsibilities.
We have lots of information and resources that you can share with families or direct them towards.
Advisers on our helpline can let parents know:
Our parent guides are free to download or to order in print from our helpline. The following guides might be helpful to parents trying to manage caring and employment:
For more parent guides on topics such as benefits and holidays and leisure, see our full publications list [PDF]
We have lots of advice and information on our website that you might want to share with parents, including:
Play our charity raffle for a chance to win up to £500 worth of sensory toys, clothing and disability aids. Tickets cost £1 each and all profits are invested into Contact’s support services.
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