Homeward bound: Exploring the motives of mothers who brought their offspring with intellectual disabilities home from residential settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frances R Vereijken, Sanne A H Giesbers, Andrew Jahoda and 1 others
PMID 34213037WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers brought their adult children with intellectual disabilities home during lockdown because they distrusted the residential staff's commitment to safety and felt their own protective instincts were essential.
They described a long-standing tension between wanting autonomy for their children and fearing the services would not advocate for them.
Key findings
01Mothers doubted that support workers shared their sense of responsibility to keep their offspring safe, which drove the decision to bring them home.
02Mothers felt that family support provided distinct value through genuine attention and instinctive awareness that professional support could not replace.
03The pandemic restrictions were experienced as devaluing the parents' role, particularly when staff could move freely while families were barred from visiting.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample consisted of only seven mothers, all of whom were highly educated and mostly married, limiting generalizability. Fathers and the perspectives of the adults with intellectual disabilities themselves were not included. The first researcher had a sibling with intellectual disabilities who also moved home, which may have influenced the interpretation of the data despite reflective practices. No member-checking was conducted to validate the themes with the participants.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests. The study was not funded by a commercial sponsor.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these mothers' distrust as evidence that residential care is inherently unsafe or ineffective. This is a small qualitative study of seven specific families during a unique crisis, not a measure of service quality or patient outcomes.