No abstract

Family strategies for caregiving and income generation are examined in a qualitative study of employed parents of disabled children in the United Kingdom. Four family patterns for working and caring emerged: modified single earner, one-and-a-half earners, dual earners, and flexible dual earners. A number of social, economic, and ideological factors contributed to decision making for these families. Gender expectations and related ideology of caring were usually the most salient, coloring the meanings ascribed to other influencing factors. Gender assumptions in the wider context underpin the difficulties many families experience in obtaining formal supports. The authors argue that flexible community-based and employer supports are crucial to help parents with disabled children to work and care. Beyond this, however, strategies that challenge gender expectations can extend the range of options available to parents, whereas more traditional approaches perpetuate inequalities and family hardship.

An area of diversity currently receiving attention is the large proportion of the workforce with commitments to care for a family. Many organisations have introduced``family friendly'' policies including parental leave, childcare assistance and reduced hours of work. But this tends to focus on mothers of healthy, young children. The intense, long-term needs of disabled children can severely stretch the provision organisations make for parents. This article presents an interview survey of parents with disabled children. It argues that, while many of the parents experience problems establishing a work-home balance, these are partly caused by blocks within the wider community. Organisations can certainly reap benefits from making special arrangements for employees with disabled children but there are limits to corporate responsibility in relation to nonwork barriers. The article highlights the need for diversity initiatives to look beyond the workplace and incorporate aspects of the wider context in which organisations operate.

This research explores the reported experiences of working parents of disabled children with respect to formal and informal sources of child-care, the need for which extends beyond the childhood years. Forty families with at least one disabled child, representing a variety of family structures and work situations, participated in semi-structured interviews. The resultant data revealed an analytical axis of disabling and enabling features of child-care. These are illustrated here with reference to the parents' accounts. Disabling barriers were physical, attitudinal or material. However, some features of either formal or informal care served to dismantle these barriers. Where formal child-care was available, appropriate,¯exible and accommodating to the needs of both the parents and the disabled child, the parents reported being able to combine working and caring roles successfully. However, where formal supports were inadequate or non-existent, parents who could rely on the support of family and friends to supply emotional and instrumental assistance reported balance between work and caring roles. Whilst all parents need satisfactory child-care in the early years, these parents' needs extend beyond the childhood years: the parents' accounts highlighted their complex and long-term child-care needs. Options for further research were proposed which would emphasize negotiation within families over time, or would focus on intersections of other parts of the work-family-community system.