Cutting back due to rising bills
Felix is seven years old and lives in Cheshire, with his mum Joy, dad Matt, little sister Rachel, and baby brother Toby. He was diagnosed with autism at the age of three years old.
“Felix thrives on routine and knowing everything ahead of time. He especially needs a lot of preparation when we do something out of the ordinary. Felix goes to a mainstream school with an EHCP in place. They go above and beyond for him and he absolutely loves it!
“I’ve learned to take each day as it comes, appreciate the little things, and have massive amounts of patience. It can be quite lonely at times because it’s hard to immerse yourself into parenting groups when you have a child with additional care needs.”
The cost of living crisis has impacted our lives massively
Matt is a stay at home dad and a carer for Felix, and Joy is on maternity leave.
“We’ve had to reduce what we live off to afford the bills. We’ve had to become stricter with food, for example making meal plans, sticking to a shopping list, and no meals out or takeaways. Overall, it means less treats for the kids.”
Family Fund have provided several grants to Felix and his family over the years.
“We received an outdoor play equipment grant which we used for a trampoline. Felix is always in the garden and absolutely loves the trampoline. It’s a great way to get rid of his energy. Being outside means less screen time, less isolation, and more time playing. It’s made a massive difference.
“We also had a freezer grant, which was helpful because our old freezer wasn’t big enough. Felix has dietary preferences which include frozen foods such as chips, chicken nuggets, and some vegetables. The new freezer has saved us a lot of money as we like to batch cook and we can now buy in bulk.
Family Fund provided the family with sensory toys too. “Sensory items can be expensive and there’s no guarantee that Felix would benefit from them. The sensory grant allowed us to try out which items would help Felix.”
“Family Fund are amazing. We are a low income family and having that option to ask for help has helped us so much. It’s great to have something to fall back on. I always recommend Family Fund to people who may be eligible.”
How are the rising costs affecting you and your family?
Our research shows that our families have seen a huge increase in living costs while caring for their child and are having a make big cutbacks.
Read our Cost of Caring report to see the biggest impacts the crisis is having on families raising disabled or seriously ill children or young people.