Matilda Davis’s story should force us to confront an uncomfortable truth and something that parent carers tell us every day: for too many families raising disabled children, the care system fails to care (Matilda in pieces: what one mother’s suicide reveals about the carers broken by the system, 11 August).
Parent carers need timely access to support in the home, short breaks and services that recognise and respond to their own needs as well as those of their disabled child. Most importantly, families need support early – before exhaustion becomes a crisis.
