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Budgetary Insufficiency Financial strain is a typical encounter of mothers caring for a special child.

Four out of five mothers expressed their problem regarding this matter. Since the day-to-day care of a child with special needs is more intensive and expensive, an added responsibility that put mothers in a stressful situation is the hardship on how will they allocate their limited money for all the needs of their family hence, defining the theme "budgetary insufficiency." This is manifested with one of the mothers verbalization: Ayon, kakulangan sa pera, kakulangan ng pangtustos saka mahirap mag-alaga. (Lack of money, lack of resources and its hard to take care of him.) The mother felt hopeless and overwhelmed by the care the child requires everyday which needs money. Having limited financial resources often contributes to the psychological stressors which sometimes result to inability to carry out their mothering role adequately - they experience alteration in role, which could then negatively affects the mothers coping; she often feel the complexity of raising her child. As stated by Sullivan-Bolyai, Sadler & Knafl, (2003) & Oruche & et al (2012), mothers of children with disabilities cope with the same responsibilities and pressures that other mothers face; however, these mothers reported higher amounts of stress and they experience greater demands made by caring for a child with special needs. This sense of stress may be associated with a childs characteristics, greater financial and care-giving demands, feelings of being unprepared for the tasks of parenting, and a sense of loneliness and isolation. Another mother stated: Parang mabigat sa akin pag nagkakasakit si Justine? Eh, wala pa naman siyang, yung sabihing nahirapan ako, ganon, na-aano ko naman eh agad na, kumbaga naresolved ko agad kahit papaano kasi tinutulungan naman ako ng mga anak ko, sa financial, unang una . Pero yung hirap talaga yung ako lang talaga, wala nang ibang kasama, solo ko lang nagtitiyaga sa anak ko. (The hardest part when Justine gets sick? I havent had any hard experience with him, because I resolve it right away with the help of my other children, most especially with the finances. But whats hard with it is being alone, self-support of my childs needs.) This mother struggles to live her usual life. Drawing up financial support to immediate family is a primary way to bear out budgetary insufficiency, since being helpful to each other is one-off characteristics of Filipino families. Three mothers stated that they get assistance, especially on financial needs, from their husband, other children or relatives. While the statement, Pero yung hirap talaga yung ako lang talaga, wala nang ibang kasama, solo ko lang nagtitiyaga sa anak ko. (But whats hard with it is being alone, self-support of my childs needs), shows that there are still those times that a mother feels she is her childs only advocate, being the only one that is responsible for her childs health and future bound by how long she will be able to support her child; doing all the best possible ways to save the day by her own. According to Blum (2012), mothers were actively involved in getting their children needed services and resources. The need for mothers to be proactive about this was exacerbated by the fact that they had to negotiate different social institutions, each with an interest in claiming certain service

spheres, but also limited budgets. While each system claims authoritative expertise, either system can reject responsibility, paradoxically, when costs are at issue. Because they often had to argue with service providers and find ways to beat a system that often tried to keep them at bay, they had to become experts in their childs disability, of course, but also public policy, learning styles, the medical system, psychology/psychiatry, pharmaceutics, manipulation of jargon and law, and more.

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