BRAGA – Parents of autistic child from Braga launch solidarity campaign

The parents of a five-year-old autistic child, from Braga, complain about a “huge error” by Social Security and are considering going to court after the mother was deprived, in March last year, of a subsidy that helped them to pay for therapies for her son, who is highly dependent. Social Security ensures that payment will be resumed retroactively.

According to Jornal de Notícias, the family requested, in February 2023, a social benefit subsidy for inclusion, taking into account that Alexandre has an 80% disability.

“I was already a beneficiary of the third-person assistance subsidy since August 2021. According to Social Security itself, in these cases the subsidies accumulate, but that’s not what they did,” the child’s mother, Mélanie Fernandes, told JN, highlighting who stopped receiving the assistance allowance in February 2023, when the new request was granted.

“As the third-person assistance allowance was unduly terminated, the informal caregiver allowance was also terminated last year”, adds the mother, speaking to Jornal de Notícias. Mélanie guarantees that she cares for her son “24 hours a day” and that her husband’s salary alone, “just over 800 euros”, is not enough to pay for Alexandre’s treatments.

JN requested clarification from Social Security, which assured that “payment of installments will be resumed, with retroactive effect to March 2023”. Despite this, Alexandre’s parents are considering taking the case to court. A fundraising campaign (“Help for Alexandre’s autism therapies”) was also launched through the GoFundMe platform.

Supporting data:

MBWAY: 929222468

IBAN: PT50 0007 00000054042133923