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As part of our work on the Family Review, we asked families to contribute to our research by sharing their Family Profile – a snapshot of what families means to them, their strengths, the challenges they may have experienced, how they like to spend their time and the support that they value the most.

Read our next three profiles below:

I am a mother of six, with one dependent child still at home. One of my adult children is autistic and lives in supported accommodation. Three of my adult children are in professional careers, and another is in vocational training. I have seven grandchildren. My teenager is lovely, hard-working and polite. My adult children are supportive and often help with things like childcare, shopping etc. Both my partner and I work so we can afford luxuries, and we are fortunate to be home-owners on a quiet road. One of my good friends lives nearby and we regularly go camping together and enjoy drinks in on a Friday. She and her husband are foster carers and have two adult children still at home. I do struggle with my mental health, so I take antipsychotic and antidepressant medication. This puts a lot of pressure on my partner, who has had to take time off work to support me. It also affects my teenager’s mental health - she has developed her own problems from witnessing my behaviour when I am feeling bad. I am under CMHT secondary care, and have been treated by the home treatment team and day services. Luckily, due to the network of support I have received, I’ve not needed to be hospitalised. I’ve found the services I’ve used very good – at my lowest I have received immediate, daily support.
I am a married mother of 4 children. We live together with a cat and a dog. My mother and sister live just down the road, and my brother is staying with us at the moment. I do everything for the children – Dad is there when the kids need disciplining but I do the cooking and cleaning. We really value quality time together – we play computer games together most days, and go out to play on the swings behind the church. We’re really close and have comforted each other through the hard times. We lost the kid’s grandad during the pandemic which was really difficult. We also had to move home because it wasn’t big enough, and now we have to move again in December because the landlord has decided he wants the house back. We don’t know where we’re going to yet. I have been using Foodbanks recently because it’s been really hard with four children. The children love the sport services here at Middleport Matters. They do things like archery, tennis, cricket, volleyball, football and skipping. It’s been so helpful – they’ve also taken them canoeing and swimming.
I am Mum to three children – two adult daughters and a non-binary teen who is 14. I’ve been divorced for 14 years. Until recently we also had a service dog who sadly passed away a few months ago. Two of my children are Autistic, I am also Autistic. Having been a teenage Mum, my daughters and I are very close and together we are a phenomenal team for supporting my Autistic teen. Our key strengths are our loyalty, honesty and good sense of humour! What I value most in our family is the respect for difference. It has been challenging home educating two of my children who couldn’t access school due to disabilities. This has been particularly challenging as a single Mum and working as well. My last home educated child is starting college in September so the challenge is now about the anxiety of transition.

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