The Child Support Agency stealing from disabled children!

I am a NRPP and have two children.  One who has ADHD and the other is severely disabled due to vaccinations, both to my ex husband, who couldn't cope and got out. He, fiddling the system was required by the CSA to pay me £2.50 per week. As you can imagine life is hard, looking after 2 special needs kids.  Not everything is monetary.  The fact I couldn't work as getting child care was impossible or at best 4 x the amount for normal child care, being up 20+ hours a day dealing with children that don't sleep, constantly having to be on my toes watching out for them.

A severely disabled child requires everything a newborn needs, the same kind of care and help, but they are children/young adults and not newborns.  The medical needs are another factor, making sure when they fit that they are safe and secure, for example.  The constant dashes to the hospital. A child with ADHD is impulsive, erratic, can't concentrate, possibly violent to property and people, they damage property without even realise they are doing it.

Then we get onto the money side of disabled children.  Replacing clothing as it doesn't last long, due to damage by the child or natural bodily functions, needing washing frequently and so on. The washing machine is always on, the tumble dryer (you can't have damp things lying around due to poor circulatory and respiratory systems of these children), special food, heating, lighting, trips to the doctors, the hospital, just to name a few.  Then there's the vehicle suitable for wheelchairs where you have to put a deposit down of around £7,000 every 3 years - yes mobility pays for the vehicle but you still have to pay the deposit.  Adaptations to your home, which are rarely covered by social services and if they are it's only a small % unless you are on IS or JSA.

Then we get onto how you feel as a parent - you've failed, you're not a real woman, you did something wrong, you are being punished.  All thoughts that go through a mum's head frequently.  You are tired all the time, stressed, depressed.  Most people shy away from disability and you never get those invites to join mums and tots, the other mum's think that it could be contagious.

You fight with social services on a weekly basis on average, trying to get the help and support you need.

The government gives you DLA for these children and yes after they have made you jump through hoops to get it, it does go a little way towards helping costs.  But the majority is still funded by the parents and there's no price you can put on the psychological cost.

If you qualify for the full rate of DLA (which is rare) then you are given £110pw.  For comparison purposes 24/7 residential care costs between £30,000 and £60,000 per year. So yes it does help a bit, but certainly not all the way.  A recent study actually showed that a family with a special needs person within it is over 90% more likely to be in debt and below the poverty line.

When CTC came out, they gave a disability premium that once again helped lift some families out of poverty, or at least help towards doing this.

So what has this got to do with the CSA?

Well my husband needs to be able to support and help me, so doesn't earn a great deal therefore our CTC have gone up drastically.

The CSA not only want 15% of his wage they also want 15% of our CTC's - the same CTC that are helping support 2 special needs kids.

How on god's earth can they take a child's money off them to give to another, and how on earth can they justify taking it of a special needs child?

So not only to I have to cope with the fact that my kids are disabled and everything that goes with it, I have to cope with money paid for those kids due to who they are, being taken off us. When my kids are rushed to hospital because I can't afford to put the heating on or Social Services take them into care because I can't provide basic care (Social Services are involved and monitor special needs kids regularly) that is OK, after all the CSA say that regardless of our home circumstances, my husbands first children's needs must come first.

Then to top it off, due to maladministration within the CSA, my husband working all hours god sent to set up a home suitable for these children, the CSA now say he is in 1000's of £'s in arrears, which according to the payment schedule sent, they are wanting 40% of his wage and the CTC. They can't but a DEO on the CTC so instead they sent out a standing order to pay it.

If we don't what happens?  Enforcement!!!  We will lose the house, the children will be in care, he won't be able to work at all.

The solution - my husband and I are now separating.

So not only did his ex go off with another man, take his kids and a mortgage free house and leave him in debt, she is now out of greed taking away his new family, his new home.

Me and the kids?  Well we lose a husband, a dad, a home and our lives.

Is suicide an option?  Yes it is, after all we have nothing left to live for

From: Anon