FAMILY
Living with a child with special healthcare needs can have profound impacts on the entire family. The demanding and sometimes overwhelming commitments you face can add strain on relationships with your partner, the child’s siblings and the extended family. Taking time out to build stronger relationships with your partner, supporting your child’s siblings and building positive partnerships with extended family can improve the overall wellbeing of your family.
Videos - LIVED EXPERIENCE
In these interviews parents describe the impacts on their relationships with their partners, the child’s siblings and the extended family. They also provide tips on how to develop positive partnerships and ways to manage the challenges faced within the family.
In this interview with Belinda and Scott describe the impacts of parenting two children with special healthcare needs on their mental and physical wellbeing, and the impacts on their family functioning. They also provide self-care tips and ways to manage the daily stress associated with parenting children with special healthcare needs.
Videos - Professional advice
In this interview Bruce talks about what it is like to parent a child with special healthcare needs. He discusses the challenged faced, the impacts on parental wellbeing and the effects on relationships within family unit. He also talks the effects of bias and stigma associated with parenting a child with special healthcare needs and provides some tips on self-care and ways to manage the daily stresses.
In this interview Dr Burnett discusses the effects of parenting a child with special healthcare needs on the parental relationship, the siblings and the extended family. Dr Burnett also provides recommendations to parents on how to support siblings, how extended family can provide support and some of the characteristics of strong and connected families.
In this interview Dr Linda Campbell discusses the effects of parenting a child with special healthcare needs on the parenting partnership, the siblings, and the extended family. Dr Campbell also provides recommendations to parents on how to build stronger relationships, support siblings, how extended family can provide support and some of the characteristics of strong and connected families.
In this interview Nicole talks about the importance of the parental relationship, the impacts upon siblings, and recommendations on how to support siblings. Nicole also talks about the impacts of extended family on parents and how they can better support the family.
Associate Prof Richard Fletcher talks about the parenting partnership, the effects on the parental relationship, and the challenges faced by parents who do not live together. Richard also provides recommendations on activities to build stronger co-parenting relationships.
In this video Dr Tracey Dudding-Byth discussed the positive and negative impact of parenting a child with special healthcare needs and importance of developing strong parenting partnerships, and the effects on siblings and the extended family. Dr Dudding-Byth also provides recommendation on how to support siblings and develop a positive relationship with extended family.
In this video Dr Chris May talks about the parenting alliance, the importance of shared values withing the parenting relationship, challenges posed on the relationship, how to develop stronger relationships, and the effects on sibling and extended family. Chris also discusses the challenges faced by parents who do not live together, and how to build stronger co-parenting relationships to improve psychological wellbeing.
In this interview Associate Prof Richard Fletcher talks about the psychological impact on fathers of children with special healthcare needs. He also talks about ways to help dads feel more involved in the care of their child with special needs and the community supports available to dads.
Wellbeing FOR Family
Psycho-education AND TIP SHEETS
Positive Partnerships
The resources in this section look at how to build positive parent partnerships while parenting a child with special healthcare needs. Parenting a child with special healthcare needs can bring additional challenges and pressures to your relationship, and working together as a team to find solutions can help reduce the daily stresses of parenting a child with additional needs.
Support for Parents with Siblings
The exhaustion, stress and uncertainty of caring for a child with special healthcare needs can impact on the way you respond to your other children; this can leave you feeling guilty and drained. It may even lure you into downplaying or ignoring the impacts the child’s condition has on their siblings. The resources in this section look at the common impacts faced by siblings of children with special healthcare needs, tips to improve the parent-child relation ship with siblings, and ways to reduce the impacts of stress on parents trying to juggle the parenting relationship with your non affected children.