A mother's extreme action

A LACK of support for carers of disabled kids leads some parents to take extreme action: giving their children up to a hospital or respite centre.

IMAGINE this: you have a beautiful little boy who is bright and happy and developing normally. Then, just before his third birthday, he develops a rare disorder that wipes away everything he has learnt, everything he has achieved, everything that he is.

This sunny little boy now can't speak or move freely, cries frequently and can't sleep for more than a few hours. That's what happened to a Queensland mother whose story appears in this issue.

It's a hellish situation for any parent and it's made worse by the well-documented lack of support for carers. This mother took extreme action - she gave him up.

Others do the same, abandoning their children in hospitals or respite centres because they can't get adequate help and they can no longer care for the child at home.

The mother who wrote our story was quite happy to be identified, but the Child Protection Act prohibits us from naming her or her son (we've even had to remove information about the illness because it could lead to his identification).

Nevertheless it's a powerful story that needs to be told and another example of why this country needs a national disability insurance scheme.