Navigating the transition from childhood to adulthood is difficult with any child. The desire to protect struggles with the knowledge that the job of parenting is changing. Young adults need to make their own decisions and endure the consequences of those decisions. It is difficult to stand back and watch that, all the while biting your tongue. The presence of a disability complicates that journey, but does not negate it.
All children become adults.
Youngsters grow up and want more responsibility and choice. Guardianship gives parents more authority in the life of a child who becomes their ward, but it does not keep their son or daughter in childhood. The challenge of combining the shifting role of parenting with the responsibility of guardianship calls parents to re-examine their assumptions about their son or daughter. It is not a process to be taken lightly. It is as much a transition to adulthood as is going off to college, or moving away from home, or getting a job.