Sept 26, 2023, Dublin Live: Group calls for €120 million [$133M] Budget funding to address deficits in autism care
Parents of children with autism want millions of euro for mental health services in next week’s Budget.
A group of organisations, including some who help children who have the condition, claim €120million [$133M] is needed to address key deficits in the system. Yesterday, Dublin mum Amanda Fox expressed concerns about difficulties within the system faced by her son Luke, 12, while Leitrim mum Jennifer Flaherty spoke about 11-year-old daughter Maggie.
Amanda said: “He needs full-time care. He’s non-verbal and still needs help with the toilet. That’s hard because his 5’ 1” height is the same as me. Even feeding, he still needs a bit of help. From the moment he wakes up, you have to be on it, including through the night. He needs someone with him at all times. My life has changed completely."
Mum-of-three Amanda said the process to apply for help via the HSE is “desperate”,
claimed the paperwork “tears you apart”. She closed her cafe business to care for Luke, who has autism and an intellectual disability, and was awarded €20 a week to help with the family’s costs.
Amanda said: “That amount was so demeaning. It really did take such a huge toll on me. I still get worked up about it. You feel undervalued, unworthy.”
She added on RTE Radio 1’s Today Show with Claire Byrne that changes must be announced in the Budget and said: “Definitely changes in supports.”
In Leitrim, loving mother Jennifer said Maggie, who has autism and an intellectual disability, claimed families are neglected by a lack of services. She specifically called for more HSE funding to improve the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
Jennifer explained a new CAMHS-ID service but as their region has no team they have been locked out of the system. She told RTE’s Morning Ireland: “The reality is the HSE do not have a lot of these teams set up.”
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