It takes a really special person to care for someone 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, and my mum and dad are two of these people. My sister
Frances is in her 40s and has Cri du Chat syndrome and severe learning
disabilities. She has difficulties with her speech, throws the most
tremendous tantrums and needs barely any sleep at all.
We
all love Frances dearly, but watching my parents deal with sleepless
nights and Frances's unpredictable behaviour and tantrums is gruelling,
especially as my parents are getting older and have growing needs of
their own. Their lives are totally given over to caring for Frances and
always will be, but they need a break, just some time to relax and
recharge their batteries every now and again. These are known as short
breaks – not a long weekend in the country, but the time off from
caring, sometimes for as little as a night a month.
It's no surprise then that eight in 10 family carers who, like my parents, care for loved ones with a learning disability
have told Mencap that they have reached a moment of emotional and
physical crisis, where they feel they can't go on, because they don't
get enough breaks. This is the same number that had reached this point
10 years ago, when Mencap launched its first Breaking Point report.
Full Article on Guardian Social Care Network
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