Empowering parents as co-producers: Personal assistance for families with disabled children

Abstract

Personal assistance (PA) is seen as an important tool for empowerment, independence and participation for disabled people, traditionally for adults. In Norway, PA was extended to families with disabled children in 2006, but the extent so far is modest. The change meant that the parents could act as managers for their children’s assistants. A central issue in this article is to what extent co-producing PA with the municipality empowers the parents as family managers. The empirical basis is a study among Norwegian parents with disabled children who receive PA. The data indicate that PA makes parents feel more empowered and improves their control and coping. It also gives their children the benefit of both parental care and increasing independence. However, in the decision-making process of granting and following up PA, the parents also experience that they are not regarded as equal co-producers by the municipal services.