My Daughter Said, "Why Are We Here, Mom?" Experiences of Parents Who Left Their Country for Their Children With Special Needs.
Turkish families who relocate for disability services are thrilled with the new supports and never want to go back—so ask every new client about migration history.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kaya et al. (2025) talked to Turkish parents who moved abroad for their children with special needs. The team asked why they left, what services they found, and if they want to go back.
Parents shared stories in their own words. The study did not test an intervention. It mapped the migration path from stigma and scarce help in Türkiye to fuller support overseas.
What they found
Every parent said special-education services abroad beat what they had at home. They felt welcomed, got timely therapy, and saw their child progress.
No family planned to return. They called the move life-changing and felt the heavy stigma they faced in Türkiye was gone.
How this fits with other research
Perry et al. (2024) show Turkish parents can run behavioral interventions at home, but most studies skip long-term follow-up. Ali et al. add the parent view: many give up and leave the country before any help arrives.
Opoku et al. (2023) found parents in the UAE still struggle to access nutritional services for autism. The contrast is sharp: Turkish emigrants praise host countries while UAE residents report the same kind of barriers. The difference is migration status—one group has settled where services work, the other is still stuck.
Stories from Ghana (Peprah et al. 2020), Mongolia (D et al. 2021), and South India (Monica et al. 2021) echo the same themes: stigma, cost, and low expectations. Ali et al. turn these shared pains into a concrete action—pack up and go.
Why it matters
If a new family lists a foreign address on your intake form, ask why they moved. Their story can tell you which supports they value most and which past hurts to avoid repeating. Check if they need help navigating a new language, different insurance rules, or simply miss their old support network. A five-minute migration history can save weeks of trial-and-error treatment planning.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study investigated the reasons why parents with children with special needs choose to leave their homeland with their children, the difficulties they encounter in their new countries, the services they receive for their children in new countries, and their level of satisfaction with these services. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 parents residing in various countries. The findings indicate that parents migrated to developed countries due to negative attitudes toward themselves and their children in Türkiye, discrimination, and dissatisfaction with educational services. These parents emphasized that their children were happy in the countries they migrated to and expressed satisfaction with the special education services they received. Furthermore, most of these parents do not intend to return to Türkiye permanently.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-63.6.524