No parent should have to worry about what will happen to their child when they can no longer provide care for them, yet years of underfunding and a failure to plan has left our residential support system in crisis and families are left carrying the responsibility even as parents themselves age into their 70s, 80s and beyond. I was even told about a woman who is 102 years old in County Galway caring for her adult child. Yesterday I spoke to a family in my constituency in this exact position. The parents are in their 70s and care for their 25 year old son who suffers from severe autism and epilepsy. They are very worried about the future and what will happen when they can no longer care for him. They stressed that a transitionary period is key, especially for people with autism. They cannot just be uprooted into an emergency placement down the line. The parents need to be there for the transition to ensure that it works properly and does not cause challenges for that person or, indeed, those who will be caring for them. However, as it stands, that will not happen because they cannot secure long-term residential care now that would allow them to begin that transition at their own pace. This is the experience of thousands of families. The Government has a responsibility to ensure that adults with intellectual disabilities have access to suitable housing and support services that meet their needs in their own community. Adults with intellectual disabilities have the same right as every other citizen to live with dignity, safety and independence and the Government has a legal and moral obligation to provide these services. There are so many basic things we are not getting right. The lack of data collection on the needs that exist in our community and the lack of personal transition plans, the challenges that exist with the social housing application process for adults with an intellectual disability, section 38 and section 39 providers are left completely unable to compete with private companies because they lack multi-annual funding, they cannot access community access support team, CAST, funding and, of course, the lack of ring-fenced funding to address this crisis is also an issue. Parents deserve so much better as do the adults with intellectual disabilities. The Minister of State needs to listen to families, support the motion and, crucially, make the changes necessary to provide safety and security to families.

Sentiment score: 0.13