Carer's Allowance - stunned

kingfisherblue

I am a single parent (though not through choice) and I am also the primary carer for my severely disabled son. I had to apply for Income Support when my husband left me for somebody else. As a lone parent, I have to attend work focussed interviews every six months to say what I am doing with regards to looking for work. When my youngest child is ten later this year, I will no longer be required to attend these interviews as I will then come under the 'Carers' radar and will have an underlying entitlement to IS as a carer.

I have pointed out that I am already a carer, but being a lone parent is given a priority, hence the frequency of the interviews. I will probably be called for interview every three years when I am recognised as a carer after my youngest child's birthday.

holistic_witch

starchild1972 wrote: »

I have a husband with M.E., a daughter with Epilepsy and a son with aspergers/ADHD.
My son has to have someone with him all the time during the day and when he wakes at night, my daughter needs someone with her at night and my husband needs physical care.
I have fibromyalgia.

I get carers allowance, my husband is allowed to claim carers for our daughter (as all she needs is watching. We cannot claim carers for our son as he does not yet get DLA as at 5 they deem him too young and it has been suggested by his specialist that we wait until he is 7. It is doubtful he will ever live anywhere else but with us.

I am also part-time self employed earning a huge £15 a week. Self employed because I cannot face the rigmarole of claiming income support and the humiliation the jobcentres put you through when you attend the work focused interviews. Neither do we claim housing benefit or council tax benefit, we struggle but survive.

Anyone who knows aspergers/autism/adhd knows what it is like to live with an explosive child.
Have you ever had a 4 yr old rip a door of it's hinges and try and throw it down the stairs and that child not even knowing why or recalling that they did it?

If it was down to parenting then why only 1 child out of 4?
Why are my other 3 neuro-typical?

Autistic Spectrum (which includes ADHD) kids would have been locked away many years ago as mentally !!!!!!/unstable. it happened to 2 of my male cousins who, at the ages of 47 and 52, have finally be re-diagnosed as Autistic and Aspergers with ADHD respectively. That was after years of misdiagnosis of manic depression and prescriptions of lithium!
My Uncle and Aunt were fab parents, otherwise their daughter would have been the same surely?
Going by what you say Polish, that it is bad parenting, all my kids should have problems but they don't. I find that comment extremely insulting.

I agree with you my son 6.5 yrs has ADHD/ODD and speech and lang and awaiting ASD diagnosis.
He too has taken doors off hinges, thrown tables, tried to climb out of windows + many more. He was diagnosed at just 6ys in fact 2 wks before as they dont like to put that "LABEL" on them till them. He is on MEDS and some days you wont no anything is wrong in the real world then others he like the devil.
I am child care qualified and have been told by professionals that I know all there is in behavourial techniques so its not down to parenting in then majority of cases.

POLISH
You should try and live with a child 24/7 who has ADHD for a few months then you will realise how difficult it is!!!!

Benidormqueen

Congratulations. You have successfully signed the petition:
Stop Carer Poverty. signed

colin13

Signed ***:)

mummyleads

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

And this is the problem with ADHD as a medical condition where benefits are concerned. I accept and recognise that it exists as a medical condition - however, given the subjective nature of it, it wouldn't surprise me to see an explosion in benefit claims from the work shy part of the UK population.

It would seem that a diagnosis for ADHD effectively allows the mother of a badly brought up child to remain on benefits until he's 16. This is frankly ridiculous - and yes, I completely agree that the amount paid should depend on the amount of care actually needed and given.

It seems ridiculous to me that the UK will pay the aforementioned work shy 'chav' to sit at home and 'care' for her child that has ADHD - which in reality is simply a badly brought up, badly behaved child. Yet the person who is home 24/7 caring for a bedridden relative, or 24/7 caring for a severely disabled child will receive exactly the same amount. Complete and utter nonsense, in my opinion

i dont know who you think you are but you do not /cannot posibly know any one who had adhd my son has it and has to be cared for round the clock i am no chav my husband is a lawyer i was a teacher so where do you get off :mad::mad::mad:

calleyw

Whoa, I think everyone needs to calm down a bit.

When you have someone who is disabled it is very easy to hit a raw nerve in my case it is head injuries and stroke that are the sore point. Due to my husband having a stroke causing his disability.

For others as in this thread it is ADHD.

Don't forget that people who are looking in are getting a snap shot of your life. E.g a child screaming and running around in a supermarket. How do they know that your child has ADHD and really is not a brat. They don't, they make a judgement on what they see at that moment. To them it looks just like a naughty child.

It is like if your saw my husband sat down in a pub at a table with one hand on his pint and the other in his lap. He can hold a converstaion and chat on any subject you like. Unless you saw him stand up and grab his stick or move his non-functioning hand on to the table you never guess that he was disabled.

See how easy it is to make a judgement about things when you don't have the whole picture..



Yours

Calley

arunadasi

Just for comparison: in Germany there are three levels of carer's allowance. I get the lowest, which is for 45 minutes of care a day, and it is EUR 215

At Level II you get 420. Level II is 675 (Euros).
They are extremely strict and it is hard to even get the first grade, and it means physical care like washing and dressing so an ADHD child wo dresses himself wouldn't count. A doctor comes to your house to check before you qualify and you have to have yearly new checks.
In order to get the third level the patient has to practically walking around with her head under her arm!

Austria seems great; they get seven levels between EUR 154 for 50 hours a month, and 1655 for over 150 hours a month. The table is on this website.
http://www.pensionsversicherung.at/portal/index.html?ctrl:cmd=render&ctrl:window=pvaportal.channel_content.cmsWindow&p_menuid=5343&p_tabid=4

Prudent

starchild1972 wrote: »

Anyone who knows aspergers/autism/adhd knows what it is like to live with an explosive child.
Have you ever had a 4 yr old rip a door of it's hinges and try and throw it down the stairs and that child not even knowing why or recalling that they did it

Autistic Spectrum (which includes ADHD) kids would have been locked away many years ago as mentally !!!!!!/unstable.

I perhaps this should be clarified a little, ADHD does not come under the austistic spectrum. It is though possible to be diagnosed with both

The behaviour described can be seen in children with either diagnosis.

I personally remain baffled by ADHD. I have many, many years of experience with children with additional needs, but have always felt the most significant factor in ADHD was home life. I have always found these children eventually respond well to firm boundaries when they realise that all their actions have consequences and all are followed through. I am not saying ADHD does not exist - but in the forty plus children I have worked with who have had a diagnosis of ADHD, I see significant improvements with firm boundaries and high expectations.

Aspergers is completely different.

I should probably run for cover now.....

starchild1972

Specialist diagnosed ADHD is on the spectrum according to Dr Baron-Cohen and Dr. Attwood, the two leading specialists on Autism and Aspergers.

Jabberwock

Signed and passed on to everyone I know

"Congratulations. You have successfully signed the petition:
Stop Carer Poverty.
You are signer #822"

Regards
Jabberwock