Välfärdsstatens logik? Erfarenheter från färäldrar med kognitiva och ekonomiska svårigheter

Abstract

The logic of the welfare state? Experiences from parents with cognitive and financial difficulties

Previous research has shown that parents with cognitive difficulties (neuropsychiatric impairments and/or intellectual disability) often are at risk of poverty. The same is reported from the Swedish welfare state, and such financial hardship may have a profound effect on family life. How these parents experience poverty and how their experiences can be related to cognitive difficulties and notions of poverty is addressed in this article. Their ability to cope in everyday life partly relies on whether, or how, existing support caters to the specific needs of these individuals. This article draws on research on poverty, disability and family. Based on interviews with parents with cognitive difficulties, these questions are discussed: how does their financial situation affect family life? How do they experience support from relatives and professionals? What kind of support is available from the welfare state, and to what extent does this support comprise perspectives on family and children? How do the parents experience informal support from their own family? How can this problem complex be localized in legislation and practice? The findings discussed here suggest that these parents often associate their experiences of poverty with the limitations caused by their impairments. Parents further state that they often rely on their own agency to get proper support, which can be very difficult, and question how support for these parents could be handled differently, in terms of both legislation and practice. The findings also show that support from society is often mediated on an individual level through initiatives from social workers and other persons working near the family, which highlights the absence of systematic support directed towards these parents.