Maria – “My daughter has Global Developmental Delay and is visually impaired. When she goes to respite she gets a chance to meet other wee friends and have fun on her sleepover. We recharge the batteries and do activities with the rest of the family. When she comes back to us we are re energised and in good form which she benefits from greatly. The respite is so important to us”
Rose – “My son can lash out. It can be difficult for his sisters to be around him all the time. The respite gives us that break. The staff here are angels and always go that extra mile. If we didn’t have the respite we wouldn’t be able to look after our child full time and he would require residential care. The respite means our child can remain at home”
Eileen – “My son has Autism, intellectual disability and other issues. I’m with him all the time. I never have five minutes – wherever he is I am. He can’t be on his own at all. Respite really helps us as a family and he loves coming here. He gets so excited coming in the door. With this respite service we can have normal family life.”
Sonia – “My son has severe autism, an intellectual disability and epilepsy. Our lives revolve around him because of his behavioural issues. Until he came here this year he had never spent a night away from me. I could never have asked someone to have him overnight – his behaviour is too challenging. I was very anxious when we came here first, as any mother would be. But Tomas is 12 and he needs some independence. From the first moment, the staff took away my concerns. They focused on Tomas and he didn’t have to fit into the service, they fit the service around him. It’s about the child. It’s person-centred and it’s a high quality service. It has saved me and my family. I can get a night’s sleep, I can spend quality time with my other son. I can breathe, safely knowing that Tomas is not only in safe hands, he is having a great time. ”
