[user104658]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

Section 17?

Important that you have time to socialise and have time out.

Just my opinion btw before you tell me I must be qualified to suggest one.

We don't have (or want) significant social work involvement and it takes her a long time to get to know/trust someone enough for them to care for her without causing her significant stress. The care that a council will provide is, for one, often lacklustre but more importantly it's just "whoever is available" - she would need the same person that she knows & trusts each time and local councils just don't have the resources to offer that.

It's not that we can't socialise at all - we can EACH socialise (lunch and a few drinks with friends, etc.) but it would be nice to be able to socialise together as well. We get plenty of time together as a couple as we're both 9 - 5 workers, so we have every evening together, it would just be good to actually be able to go out for dinner or go places as a couple occasionally.

Not sustainable forever to be fair and we'll likely need to look at care support as she gets older, but she's only 9 so at the moment there's more priority on keeping her regulated and as anxiety-free as possible which means only leaving her with people she knows and trusts. The only family member we've ever been able to leave her with is my sister and she lives 2.5 hours (and a boat ride) away so that's been for "events" (awards ceremonies, weddings, etc.) rather than a regular thing.

But yeah on the thread topic, if money was no object I'd totally hire a full-time staff member and palm her off on them regularly .