South Africa's Care Dependency Grant is meant to provide additional support to families with special needs children, but many parents remain stretched to their limit amid rising costs and inaccessible public services. Experts and struggling parents have called for better system integration and dignified access to services to address the country's slow pace of change.

When Cleone Tigerls's (32) eldest daughter, Lamisha, was six years old she contracted streptococcal meningitis, a severe condition that inflames the protective layers around the brain and spinal cord. An initial misdiagnosis of tonsillitis caused delays in her treatment, and while Lamisha survived, she was left permanently mentally and physically disabled.

For Tigerls, a mother of three living in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, caring for Lamisha consumes most of her time. She receives the R2,400 Care Dependency Grant which the the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) provides monthly for caregivers of children living with disabilities, as well as the Child Support Grant for her two younger children.

But even with this additional support she is at the end of her rope, trying to meet the acute needs that come with Lamisha's condition. She has been unable to seek out work, worried about leaving her daughter's care in another's hands. The family relies on her husband's work in the automative industry, which is not stable.

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"I just need help. That's all. Just to get a place for my family. This is not right... The people in special needs, they need more attention," Tigerls said.

The family lives in a two-room structure...