114 - Help towards keeping car on road for family with autistic child - March 2023

Today we have news of donation 114 - £500 to help a family keep their car on the road - which is particularly important for their circumstances.


One of our members told us about her friend who has 3 children ,1 of whom is autistic with learning difficulties.


They are a family who have been through a lot in the last 5 years - the father left the mother and has had very little contact with any of the children since. They became homeless and reached out for council housing, and have been housed but in very cramped conditions. Our member has been working as an advocate with the family (English not the first language for the mother) on a number of areas (housing etc). After a court battle she managed to get some maintenance from the father.


Suddenly and without warning, as the father has lost his job, all maintenance has ceased. Our member has been helping her friend to work out what she can stop paying and what she needs to keep in a budget. 


One of the expenditures she is desperately trying to keep is her car but her insurance and MOT are due and the car has problems but she really needs to stay on the road for places she has to take her son to.  Because of his autism, it is very tricky to get him to places via public transport  - he often struggles to understand / be able to flex with the change required to make those journeys. 


Given the house location, having no car is just going to bring more challenges to an already difficult situation - as well as bringing other problems -  such as not being able to get to a larger supermarket to buy cheaper food, etc in the quantities required for her family. She does also access a food bank. 


We could see the importance of retaining the car for this family and sent the mum £500 so that she can undertake the MOT, replace the brake pads, with some left over to put towards upcoming tax & insurance so this particular worry is eliminated for a while. 


We were pleased to be able to release her anxiety and pressure around this and keep her and her son with the independence the car brings.  Our member tells us her friend burst into tears on hearing the news that we could help, and she could reassure her son that they could keep the car.


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