Page 10 - Community Living Magazine 32 - 2

parenting
Justice for parents and children

Prejudice and a lack of support means that parents with learning disabilities may have to deal
with their children being taken into care. ali F Jabeen describes how the Elfrida Society’s
Parents Project helps them to be successful parents and makes some recommendations

hen considering child Reunited after 10 years
protection cases and care I have been the advocate in a case where “ Professionals had
Wproceedings, UK family law a mother’s 14-year-old son was returned assumed she could not
courts rely upon evidence from the to her 10 years after both her sons had
child’s social worker, doctor, guardian been taken into care, after the school be a parent, as she had
and psychologists. teacher called in social workers. been in care and had a
The local authority enters the courts to The teacher felt the children were
win and so do the parents. All agree the neglected by the parent because she had learning disability
welfare of the child is paramount, as well learning disabilities and believed they had ”
as the child having her or his rights met. left home with soiled clothing. The mother
The social worker writes a report had argued that the clothing had been services to work with and assess parents
following a standard process. In most soiled in the school playground after she when there are child protection concerns)
cases, they will not have paid attention to dropped them off before classes started. this time, she knew what she had to do.
the fact that the parent does not The mother experienced traumatic She passed with flying colours.
understand why a social worker is court proceedings which led to her sons In another case, B, a young mother who
intervening in their family life. being taken away, but she did not give up. was supported by Elfrida, was able to
As soon as the social worker can see She believes she lost her sons purely build a family. She had been allowed to
there is a lack of comprehension, the because she has a learning disability. keep her third child after her two previous
question they should be asking themselves She has taken part in the Elfrida Society children were removed.
is whether the parent has a learning need parents’ peer support group for the past 10 Growing up, B had been placed in care
that means they require additional years and acquired parenting techniques herself with a diagnosis of learning
support to understand what is happening. via accredited, adapted parenting disability and hearing impairment. There
If the answer to this question is “yes”, programmes. She kept up supervised was a general assumption by professionals
an immediate referral needs to be made contact with her sons twice a year, no that B did not have the ability to be a
to have an advocate for the parent to matter how distressing this was for her. parent, based on her history of being in
prevent any further misunderstanding. The support she received from her care and having a disability.
The parent can be referred to local peers was priceless over the years, she The social workers assigned to work
support networks while the social worker says. The Elfrida Society as a whole with B knew her when she was in care.
needs to work with the family. became her community; she was not Their communications with her indicated
The case may have to go to court. alone and could be herself. She had they did not respect her views, and were
Parents need to be offered every chance advocacy support in all its forms, including not interested in learning about B’s
of success, which means they need to group activity, campaigns, political rallies, growth and learning throughout life.
understand why this intervention is dialogue with professionals, media B then had a fourth child. This time,
being made. attention and taking part in radio shows. thanks to the support from Elfrida, she
In an ideal world, each local authority When she had to complete the PAMS was able to win her fight with the local
would employ specifically trained social assessment (a guide used by social authority in court and keep this child.
workers who can support parents with
learning disabilities. More time could then
be allocated per case on the basis of the
level of need for reasonable adjustments.
A social worker would be allocated for
long-term family support (not six-month
stints as is currently the case). This would
avoid short-term interventions that are
intended solely to close the case, thereby
gaining a statistical outcome for the mattbuck/Wikimedia Commons; Seán Kelly/www.seankellyphotos.com
authority.
Parents need to be supported to
become successful parents until their
child is 16 years old at least.
In our experience, we have found most
parents with learning disabilities can be
successful parents if they have the right
guidance, support and advice. If a case needs to go to a family court, the parent needs to understand why this is happening

10 Vol 32 No 2 | Winter 2018 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk