Family justice and social care systems paying “insufficient attention” to ensuring rights of parents with learning disabilities are upheld: Nuffield NFJO
The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NFJO) has highlighted the “important” role of advocates and intermediaries in enabling parents with learning disabilities to engage fully in court proceedings, after warning that family justice and social care systems are paying “insufficient attention” to ensuring that their rights under disability, equality and human rights legislation are upheld.
According to its new study, published last week (23 Jan), the NFJO found that a high proportion of care proceedings concerning babies involve parents with learning disabilities/difficulties, but late identification of these difficulties means that assessments and interventions are “unlikely to be tailored to parents’ learning needs”.
The report attributes the late identification of learning disabilities to a “lack of confidence and experience among social workers”, time pressures, and delays in obtaining specialist assessments.
The authors warned: “Late identification of parental learning disabilities/difficulties means that key parenting assessments and interventions are unlikely to be tailored to parents’ learning needs, making meaningful engagement less likely.
“It also means that important decision-making processes – such as child protection case conferences, formal pre-proceedings meetings and initial care proceedings hearings – are not tailored to parents’ needs, with a strong risk then that parents do not fully understand what is happening and what the implications are.”
The report added: “If adaptations are not being made to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities/difficulties, there is potential for serious injustice.”
The NFJO meanwhile described the term ‘substituted parenting’ as “unclear and unhelpful” – observing that while interviews with parents with learning disabilities/difficulties indicated that they recognised their need for support and welcomed it, they were “clear” that they wanted the support to help them parent, not to replace them as parents.
The report finally outlined the need for post-proceedings support for parents with learning disabilities/difficulties who lose their children through care proceedings, and highlighted the “important” role of advocates and intermediaries in enabling parents with learning disabilities to engage fully in court proceedings.
The authors noted: “Evidence from parents and professionals indicates how helpful assistance from intermediaries can be – not just in the courtroom but in meetings outside court and in preparing parents for taking part in hearings.
“Professionals highlight how helpful it would be to have that assistance at an earlier stage.”
Lottie Winson
