Liz and Craig were at the point of despair and had begun questioning their ability to continue caring for their 10 year old son, Danny, who has severe autism.  Then they heard about OzChild's Disability Services respite program for children with high needs.

While some of his more extreme behaviours had been modified and he was attending a Special School, it still felt as though looking after Danny and worrying about him seemed to take up most of Liz's waking hours, and often a good part of the night.  Her health was suffering and it was getting harder to keep the depression at bay. There just never seemed to be enough time for Liz and Danny to spend time with their other two children, or with each other.

The family was referred to OzChild's respite program, which gave them access to weekend respite once a month with a volunteer carer.  Danny was also able to go on three school holiday camps, where he was allocated his own volunteer, to ensure that his behaviours could be managed in the group.

For Liz and Craig, having a regular break has made all the difference to their lives.  Their stress levels are down, Liz's health has improved and they have more time to do special things with their two girls when Danny is away from home.

For Danny there are lots of benefits from the different respite options OzChild has been able to offer the family.  Danny has been able make a good connection with the carer and now looks forward to spending time with her.  Having the same respite carer has helped lessen his anxiety about new situations.

Going on the camps has also helped him break out of some of his routines and he now copes much better with the new surroundings and different people. His communication skills have improved as he has adapted to the need to interact with people who don't know him as well as his parents.  His confidence has increased from joining in the various camp activities and best of all he is having fun with other children.  As Liz said, "OzChild gave us a wonderful gift - it gave us back our family".

Would you like to look after a child for a weekend, a few days, a few months or longer? Do you work, but still have some time and energy to care for a child?

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