Parental competence and parents with learning difficulties

Also 'Parenting in context: policy, practice and the Pollocks'

Tim Booth and Wendy Booth

Child and Family Social Work, 1(2), 1996, pp. 81-86 and pp. 93-96.

Parental adequacy is widely seen as a function of individual parenting skills. This assumption renders parents with learning difficulties vulnerable to discriminatory treatment in child protection work. A presumption of incompetence leads practitioners to focus on the parents' deficits and intensifies concerns about the welfare of the children. Using case material from a recent study, the authors argue for a wider conception of good-enough parenting that takes into account the external pressures that impact on family functioning.