WHEN A MOTHER’S LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH

[Guest guest]

*WHEN A MOTHER’S LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH: Tuesday 10th November, BBC One, 10:35pm

Alert Me*

Capturing the reality of raising a disabled child is difficult to tackle.

But Monckton provides a fairly objective and poignantly candid portrait

of families dealing with this issue in Britain today in When a Mother’s Love

is Not Enough.

Monckton, a self-proclaimed businesswoman, charity worker and confidante of

the late Princess (shameless exploitation), speaks to five families

and their challenging children in this sombre documentary. She witnesses a

couple cope with the unexpected violence of their 17-year-old with

Asperger’s and discusses state-supported respite care and blatant

discrimination with the distressed mother of a 12-year-old with Cerebral

Palsy. And naturally, she offers her own commentary.

“My immediate reaction was that if I could run to a window, I would jump out

of it,” Monckton says matter-of-factly of her birth to Domenica, her now

14-year-old daughter who suffers from Down’s syndrome. A bit harrowing, no?

Then a mother of a blind and epileptic infant named Rose admits: “I know

hand-to-heart that if it was just me and Rose, we wouldn’t be here.” So

maudlin, it is almost comical, and then the sad reality sets in.

A documentary centred on disabled children would not be at the top of

anyone’s to-watch list. But the candid accounts and horrific situations of

When A Mother’s Love make us sit up on our seats. This documentary proves

insightful and engaging–a worthwhile piece of entertainment.

*le y*