Mother Of Autism Disabled Kids Seeks Grant Money For Better Family Life

by Anne-Marie Soutar
(Rochdale, MA, USA)

I am 28, married and have 3 kids. I have suffered with depression for nearly 20 years and now am being assessed for bipolar.

This is a very disabling condition but that's not the best bit. Two of my children have autism.

Ethan is nearly 7. He was diagnosed at 4. Taylor is 3. She was just diagnosed when she was only 2. Morgan is 16 months.

Living with 2 autistic children is hard work and I am struggling to cope with it all.

My husband is great, but he is a chef so he works all the time. So it's just me that has to deal with everything: the kids, the bills, the school, the shopping, everything.

Things have gotten tight. We had to move into a big expensive house (private rent) so the kids could have their own rooms. I didn't trust them to share in case one got hurt. Ethan and Taylor have no sense of danger.

I need a car because it's too hard to go anywhere with all 3 of them. Just going shopping is a military operation so the car costs loads each month.

If I could get some funding to help pay the bills off that would ease things greatly.

I'm only coping one day at a time, but I'd love to be able to not worry about everything all the time and do nice things with the kids and give them a good quality of life they deserve.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Anne-Marie