Kimberly (left) with her son Harvey, and Tiya (right) with her son Arun and husband Alexander.

“I have been keeping myself from having a breakdown,” said Tiya, who is based in London. “It’s taken a lot out of me and my family.”

The mum was forced to give up her digital marketing job in July 2023, as she and her husband Alexander, who works for a pharmaceutical company, have been left fighting an “exhausting” battle to get support for their son Arun.

The five-year-old has developmental language disorder (DLD) – a life-long condition making it difficult for him to express, understand and use language.

Tiya said there is not enough awareness of the disorder and a lack of specialist provision for it, too.

She said her family doesn’t currently access any support from children’s social services and they haven’t been given any insight into potential support they could get, either.

“I’m struggling and I could do with some additional help,” Tiya said, suggesting respite care as an option, or even access to holiday clubs where people understand her son’s disability.

“It’s only me and my husband,” she said, noting they have no family nearby to help. “I think I’ve voiced that to people who could have helped, but I’ve never been made aware of my eligibility for any other kind of support, like respite.”

The family’s situation is not unique.

New research from the national disability charity Sense revealed nearly a third (32%) of parents of disabled children said they have been unable to access the support they need from children’s social services.

Parents are paying huge sums of money to support their disabled children

Disabled families are legally entitled to social care support, which could........

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