Mary's Story

Mary (not her real name) is married with four children. She has learning disability as do some of her children.

Mary was finding it difficult to cope and her mental health was suffering. Care of the children was increasingly falling on her eldest child - and he could not cope.

Social Services placed the children on the Child Protection Register and were considering whether they should be permanently removed and placed for adoption.

When one of out advocates became involved she discovered that child care was only one of Mary's problems. In particular, Mary and her family were being harassed and victimised on the estate where they lived.

After a great deal of work our advocate assisted Mary and her family to convince the Housing Department to move them to a new home, and Social Services to provide help in the home to support Mary to gain skills and to become more confident as a parent and homemaker.

With the support of the advocate Mary developed a circle of support; for example, the children's school were helpful and understanding.

In time Mary was able to demonstrate her abilities rather than her disabilities - so after about 21/2 years the children were removed from the Child Protection Register.

The eldest boy became involved with a Young Carers Scheme and gained a Duke of Edinburgh Award. Encouraged by his success (for they were a family not used to achieving things) Mary joined a Literacy class to learn to read and write.