Parents' experience of having a child with autism and learning disabilities living in a group home: A case study.

Some children with autism and learning disabilities also
have aberrant behaviours that are difficult to regulate and stressful for
both the child and family members. This case study concerns experiences
of 10 parents from five families before and 2 years after entrusting
their 10- to 11-year-old child with autism to a group home.
Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of narrative interviews with
the parents before the child’s moving showed them experiencing grief
and sorrow, total exhaustion because of inability to regulate their
child’s behaviours, social isolation, and negative effects on the child’s
siblings, but experiencing themselves as more sympathetic than previously
towards other people with problems. Two years later they experienced
relief for the family due to the group home arrangement and
the child’s improvement, but with an ethical dilemma which made
them feel guilty, despite increased hope for the future. Some also felt
unhappy with the staff situation at the group home.