Peer-reviewed article
Navigating fragmented and contingent support: A qualitative study of British Armed Forces families raising neurodivergent children.
Kargas N, Dimolareva M, Tsiora S, Farooq A, Brelsford VL et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study explores how British Armed Forces families with neurodivergent children (aged 3-17 years) navigate health, education and social support while managing military mobility and deployment. Researchers interviewed 12 parents and caregivers to understand how they access and maintain support in a fragmented system. The study found that support is unpredictable and dependent on individual effort rather than guaranteed, with frequent relocations interrupting medical and educational continuity. Parents often become the main coordinators ensuring their children's needs are met across different services. Military deployment and moving disrupt family routines and caregiver wellbeing, though military networks can provide practical help when accessible.
Key points
- Support is experienced as contingent and unstable rather than a reliable entitlement, with access heavily dependent on local knowledge and individual champions
- Frequent relocation interrupts clinical diagnostic and educational pathways, forcing parents to repeatedly rebuild professional relationships and re-legitimise their children's needs
- Parents become 'continuity brokers' who carry records and coordinate care across fragmented services at significant occupational, financial and emotional cost
- Military deployment redistributes care responsibilities, disrupts family routines and affects caregiver wellbeing and child regulation
- A policy-implementation gap exists: stated commitments to prevent service-related disadvantage do not translate into portable, neurodiversity-informed support systems
Limitations
The study uses qualitative methodology with 12 participants, which provides rich descriptive understanding but cannot quantify the extent of these experiences across the broader Armed Forces population. The findings are specific to British Armed Forces families and may not generalise to civilian populations or other military contexts.
Abstract
British Armed Forces families raising neurodivergent children must coordinate health, education, welfare and informal support within a service context characterised by mobility and deployment. This study examined how families understood, accessed and sustained support, and how these processes shaped caregiving and family life. Twelve parents and caregivers of children aged 3-17 years with diagnosed or suspected neurodevelopmental conditions participated in online semi-structured interviews. Guided by critical realism, data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis showed that support was experienced less as a stable entitlement than as a contingent achievement. Relocation repeatedly interrupted clinical, diagnostic and educational pathways. Parents consequently became continuity brokers who carried records, rebuilt professional relationships and repeatedly legitimised their children's needs. Military welfare and informal networks could provide meaningful practical and emotional help, but access depended heavily on local knowledge, individual champions and geographic proximity. Advocacy generated occupational, financial and emotional costs that were often gendered. Deployment further redistributed care, disrupted routines and reverberated across caregiver wellbeing, child regulation and serving personnel's work. Parents also described meaning, pride and solidarity, while resisting uses of "resilience" that shifted responsibility from systems to families. These findings identify a policy-implementation gap: commitments to avoid service-related disadvantage do not consistently translate into portable, neurodiversity-informed support. Greater continuity across postings, transparent inter-agency handovers, knowledgeable welfare provision and deployment-sensitive respite are required.