The Scottish government’s national parenting strategy is very welcome – and not just in its overall ambition to make Scotland the best place for children to grow up (‘England urged to follow Scotland’s lead in extending parenting support’, cypnow.co.uk, 5 October).
As a charity with direct contact with thousands of families raising disabled children, we know that a big issue affecting the quality of life of disabled children in Scotland is lack of sleep.
It’s not just the children themselves, but parents and siblings who suffer from sleep deprivation. Disabled children often need treatment, care or supervision during the night. Parents sleeping in shifts is common. Families on low incomes may have inadequate housing, furnishings or safety equipment. Parents may therefore sleep in the same room as their disabled child, sometimes on the floor.
Understandably, parental relationships can be tested. We all need proper sleep to cope effectively. Disabled children and their families need it more than most, but are too often denied it.
The strategy’s recognition that sleeping patterns are a common source of anxiety for families– and its commitments to providing more support and advice on the issue – are a starting point for making Scotland a better place for disabled children to grow up.
Salena Begley, Scotland development manager, the Family Fund
Life-threatening illness affects all
Research suggests that children living with parents who are dying and bereaved children are at increased risk of truanting from school, engaging in anti-social behaviour, emotional and mental health problems and becoming teenage mothers.
These are all factors that contribute to the view of what constitutes a “troubled family”, and yet these children and their families are not recognised and are thus likely to fall below the radar of professionals and policymakers.
They are generally “ordinary” families who would not stereotypically be shoehorned into this category.
Life-threatening illness affects people from all backgrounds; the common denominator is that they become collectively vulnerable to the same worries, stressors, fears and threats. They become, if we use the broadest view of the term, “troubled families”.
I feel strongly that this population of children and their families also deserve recognition that they too are at risk of becoming “troubled” families.
Rachel Fearnley, independent researcher
