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Background During the first COVID‐19 lockdown period, various restrictions led to diminished access to both educational and professional support systems for children with an intellectual disability and their families. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and needs of parents caring for a child with an intellectual disability during the first lockdown period in the Netherlands. Method Five mothers caring for a child with an intellectual disability participated in this qualitative study. The participants were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview guide. The interviews lasted between 26 and 48 min. The interview recordings were transcribed verbatim, and the transcripts were analysed thematically. Results Three overarching themes emerged: (1) We need to stay healthy , which centres on the mother's urge to protect their child's well‐being; (2) We make it work , which provides insight into how the mothers were handling the drastic changes in their family; and (3) My child's and family's place in the world , which focuses on the mothers' experienced position in the world around them. Conclusions The current study provides valuable insights into the experiences and needs of mothers caring for a child with an intellectual disability during the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Background:To enhance social inclusion of people with intellectual disability, policy is aimed at increasing informal support networks. Nevertheless, staff continue to play a vital role in their support networks. Method:Six individuals with mild intellectual disability, living in community-based settings, were interviewed following a semi-structured format. In-depth accounts of participants' support experiences were established using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.Results: Three main themes were identified: relationships with staff placed within a personal history, relationships with staff within an organisational context, and staff support and interviewees' place in the world. Conclusions:Relationships with staff were often one of the closest and most significant social relationships participants had. As living in the community had not necessarily led to meaningful inclusion for participants, the findings point at the important role of staff in supporting and facilitating friendships and close relationships of people with intellectual disability.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

The FNM-ID is a useful and successfully adapted tool for other researchers and professionals to systematically explore the family support experiences of individuals with mild intellectual disability.