Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a birth disorder that may develop before or after pregnancy. Cerebral Palsy delays the development of the baby’s brain and makes it challenging to control primary movements. It inhibits the child’s ability to normally move, communicate, eat, and perform other day-to-day tasks.
These children are usually dependent on someone for most of their life to help them through the routine stuff such as going to the bathroom, having meals, or changing clothes.
Parents can realize if their baby has cerebral palsy at an early age. Several signs appear when they are young that indicate late or immature development of their body and mind. For example, the inability to move the limbs normally, clap or crawl.
However, to date, there’s no cure for cerebral palsy. But through proper therapies and guidance, these children can learn how to move, talk, and be more social. Parents have to go through many challenges while caring for a CP child. At such times, parents need immense support to help them realize they aren’t alone.
Let’s go through some common parental nightmares where a CP child is born:
Malpractice woes
Some parents experience serious malpractice and mishaps of cerebral palsy cases, and that too at the hands of renowned professionals. Since it’s a birth injury, if they suspect so, the parents of the CP kid have grounds to sue healthcare professionals for malpractice.
A competent cerebral palsy lawyer can help parents get the compensation they deserve for the child’s treatments.
Depression
Sadly, parents of a kid with cerebral palsy have an increased risk of depression and anxiety. As the child needs constant supervision and assistance, it can certainly take a toll on the parents’ mental health.
The problem becomes twofold if a single parent has to take care of a CP child. Socioeconomic factors, lack of access to a proper CP rehab, treatment costs, and lack of awareness about the disability are some of the causes of depression in such parents.
Financial struggles
Of course, the treatment costs of cerebral palsy are also tremendously high. Per CDC statistics, the average cost parents have to pay to take care of a CP child is about $45,000 per year. That’s a massive amount, especially for the working class.
Private and public welfare organizations and the government need to ensure CP financial burdens are reduced.
Sleeplessness
Understandably, the parents barely get any sleep if they constantly tend to their child’s needs with cerebral palsy. If the child can move on their own, the parents and the child themselves can sleep a whole lot better than those who are non-ambulatory (unable to walk).
A 2021 study showed that parents often have to wake up in the middle of the night to tend to their CP child. Sometimes, the kids experience discomfort in bed, which further causes sleeplessness in parents.
Marital problems
Parents’ personal lives who have a cerebral palsy child come to a major halt. The constant stress, financial strain, career struggles, insomnia, mental health issues, and lack of intimacy between the mother and father often results in high divorce rates.
Insufficient awareness about the condition is a significant risk factor that causes marital problems.
Some parents fail to recognize the signs of cerebral palsy or cannot comprehend their child’s daily situation. Since taking care of a special needs child is an equal responsibility, parents should try to work through it and develop an emotional connection to avoid the ultimate issues of divorce.
Lack of access to rehabs
Sometimes the condition can get too much for parents to handle, or they cannot do so independently. At such times, rehabs offer assistance to facilitate the treatments and nurture the child’s special needs. These centers create specific physiotherapy and speech therapy programs to cater to the CP kids.
Sadly, many parents live in faraway areas with no emergency or healthcare facilities or rehabilitation centers to take care of cerebral palsy children. Besides, these rehabs cost way too much for the parents, who cannot afford their services. It further adds to their problems and increases the challenge as a parent of a CP child.
Final Thoughts
Being a CP child’s parent is no easy feat. There are continuous hindrances and challenges at every step. These parents are tested daily and go through many emotional and physical disturbances.
Some parents even have to put their own lives at a pause and sacrifice their careers, relationships, and social status to take care of their special needs. However, every day is a new learning experience.
With the help of community support, increased awareness, and better facilities, these parents can better cope with being a parent of a kid with cerebral palsy.