Markfield gives us strength... it's a second home

David Cohen meets parents looking after autistic children - as well as trying to balance budgets in a cost of living crisis

- David Cohen

THE mothers at the weekly training sessions at Markfield Project have one thing in common - they are juggling the exhausting demands of raising children with communication and behavioural difficulties, compounded by the stress of living in poverty.

Nancy, 40, a single mother of four, has two special needs children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What is "freaking" her out is that her 16-year-old son is "a ravenous eater" who shreds her food budget and whose "love of computers and coding" has helped triple her energy bill. "I think, how will I afford this? Why can't he leave some snacks for others? I feel all this tension but also all this guilt because he is a growing boy and doesn't get the cost of living crisis," she said.