Inspection of services:
Northamptonshire County Council

Social Services Inspectorate

Department of Health

Inspection of services to support disabled adults in their parenting role: Northamptonshire County Council, July 1999

'Staff's knowledge of what specialist assistance and resources were available and how they could be accessed to meet the diverse needs of disabled parents was extremely variable. A particular concern was the lack of awareness and access to the specialist help that may be required for someone with low educational attainment, or a learning disability, to enable them to succeed as a parent.' (para. 8.6, p. 35)

'The divisions between children and adult services, across operational and commissioning arms, and between the centre and localities, had not facilitated good collaborative working. This had created inherent difficulties for this discrete minority group of disabled adults who required support to fulfil their parenting role as their needs did not fit into a single division.' (para. 1.15, p. 3)