More than 13,000 children in France are housebound as there is no institution to take them and the situation is just as bad in other countries.
Children with severe handicaps are often unable to go to school and even specialized institutions lack the place to accept them. This means that the kids are stuck at home with little social contact with people or with children like themselves.
This makes the job of raising them even harder for parents. They have no respite and are often unable to find someone capable of watching the child so they can work.
Children with autism and those suffering from multiple disabilities are the most affected. Measures to increase the number of places in institutions do represent a step forward, but according to experts, this is not enough.
It is estimated that there are 15,000 children with disabilities born in France each year.