This thesis illustrates the experience of parents of children with special needs and the challenges they must face in their role as parents. In the theoretical part, I focus on the topic of accepting the news about the special needs of the child and the affect it has on parenting. Additionally, I present the role of social work in supporting parents. With the main aim of understanding the experience of parents of special needs children and more specifically to what they pay attention to when raising a child, a qualitative research in the form of eight partially structured interviews was conducted. In the analysis I describe how they received the news about the child's special needs, how they adapted to it together with their partner, and how the child's special needs affect their experience of parenthood. Furthermore, the topics of setting boundaries, protecting the child from negative experiences, the child’s self-image, and what is important to them in communicating with the child are also explored. The special needs of a child do, at least in some way, change the family dynamics. Although according to the parents' experience, the challenges of parenthood decrease as the child gets older. Parents also expressed that they would like more support from professionals, especially in the first years of the child's life.
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