Parents of sick kids under threat

Parents of sick children are living in fear of doctors and teachers who threaten to report them to child protection agencies, one of the UK’s biggest ME charities has warned

Many young people with ME and their parents struggle with disbelief from doctors, teachers and social work staff who doubt their condition is genuine. Some professionals even blame the parents for their child’s symptoms and threaten them with social services.

There are 15,000 children with ME in the UK and up to 4000 in Scotland. According to the Alliance of ME charities, numbers appear to be rising. Children who suffer from severe ME cope with complex symptoms, face difficulties in diagnosis and more than half will be bed bound by ME at some stage.

You can find out about parents experiences by reading my story in the Big Issue magazine this week.