The Child Minder

by Maria Ahmed

The question was raised this week as the parliamentary science and technology committee published its report on scientific developments relating to the Abortion Act 1967.

News of the case of nine-year-old Ashley from Seattle, who is said to have the mental age of a three-month-old baby and can neither walk or talk, is difficult to take in.

Three years ago, her parents decided to take steps to minimise Ashley's adult height and weight through hormone treatment. They also convinced an ethics committee that an operation to remove their daughter's uterus and breast buds were in the child's best interests as they would minimise the risk of sexual abuse and reduce her future discomfort.

In some quarters, the pair have been utterly condemned for their actions. And it is certainly easy to question the right of any parent or professional to condone such drastic medical treatment and procedure on behalf of another person for non-medical reasons.

But, elsewhere, there have been outpourings of empathy and support. People understand that this couple - who care for their daughter day in, day out and who know she will always have the mind of a baby - wanted to ensure their daughter could never become pregnant and that they would be able to continue to lift her and care for her at home.

The Conservative MP for South West Devon has made me think kind thoughts about Tories, something which does not come easy to me.

Gary Streeter, who was drawn fourth in last week's parliamentary ballot for Private Members' Bills, has answered the call of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign and agreed to take forward their Disabled Children's Short Breaks Bill.

As I mentioned last week, the bill aims to secure families with disabled children the right to a break from caring. Co-sponsored by Liberal Democrat MPs, it is now guaranteed parliamentary time and will be debated in January.

We already know that the economic secretary Ed Balls thinks this is a worthwhile cause. Perhaps the long-standing friend and adviser to Gordon Brown will now assert his influence once more over the Chancellor (and hot favourite to become Prime Minister) to ensure the admirable aims of Streeter's bill are delivered, not just debated.

The patchy and inadequate support that disabled children and their families receive is now well documented. So it is essential that the Disabled Children's Short Break Bill, drawn up and published by a coalition of charities, is adopted by whichever MP triumphs in the private member bill ballot on Thursday to ensure the issue gets a proper airing in the House of Commons.

Ultimately, though, it is the Chancellor's support that is key here. The Treasury has promised to consider the needs of disabled children in its wider review of services for children and young people that will feed into the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

If it does its homework properly, the Treasury will find evidence of the financial hardship and physical and mental exhaustion experienced by many of these families and documented so clearly by Mencap. And it will appreciate how these problems are being exacerbated up and down the country by rising eligibility criteria for support as budgets are cut.

If it does it's homework properly, the Chancellor will have no choice but to announce more resources for disabled children and their families. For these families, next summer's Comprehensive Spending Review cannot come soon enough.