Parental Learning Difficulty

Parents with learning difficulties may justifiably believe that the odds are stacked against them when it comes to successfully raising their children without the involvement of a range of professionals from health and social care agencies. 

More adults with learning difficulties are becoming parents and approximately half of them will have their children removed, usually as a result of concerns about their care and upbringing. 

For professionals, the challenges can feel equally daunting. How can they advise and support the parents whilst at the same time fulfilling their responsibilities to safeguard the day-to-day care, safety and development of the children?

In many cases, parents are referred to specialist services much too late, for example, at a crisis point when court action is considered and they may not have previously received learning difficulty services. They may have not had much contact with professionals in universal services and many workers have little understanding of how much support is required. A general lack of coordination and consistency between services compounds the difficulties.

Many professionals do not fully understand the impact when a parent has a learning disability and can hold negative, stereotypical attitudes and fixed ideas about what should happen. Professionals may have extremely high expectations and often want a concrete outcome that removes all risk. They also have differing ideas about parenting, often intervening without giving the parent the space to work their way through challenges or providing support when circumstances do become difficult.