Parents with learning difficulties, child protection and the courts

Grantholders: Tim Booth and Wendy Booth, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

Introduction

The number of parents with learning difficulties known to the health and social services is increasing. They now represent a sizeable population whose special needs for family support have so far not been adequately addressed. High rates for the removal of children (varying from a low of 30% to a high of 80%) are reported throughout Western Europe, North America and Australia. The international research evidence suggests that such parents frequently encounter barriers to justice that disadvantage them within the child protection system.

There has been no research in England which explores how these cases are handled by social services and the courts and what factors are weighed in the balance when making decisions in care and related proceedings about the best interests of children from such families. This study will investigate the process and outcomes of child protection work with parents who have learning difficulties and evaluate the implications for policy and practice.

Aims

The driving aims of the study (which ran for two years from September 2001) were:

• To investigate how child protection cases involving parents with learning difficulties were handled by children's services and the courts.

• To identify the key influences on the decision to initiate care proceedings in cases involving parents with learning difficulties and ascertain what factors were weighed in the balance when making decisions in care assessments and family proceedings about the risks to children of growing up in such a family.

Methods

A combination of methods were used to fulfil the research aims.

Document review

This part of the study involved two phases:

Phase 1: A document review was undertaken of case papers (focussing on initial assessments, core assessments and plans for children) to assess

• how the parent's or parents' disability had been taken into account in framing the analysis, forming judgements, making decisions and drawing up a plan of action

• how far these assessments made provision for the needs of the parents.

Phase 2: A similar review of court papers to document the court process characteristics and the outcomes in these cases.

Systematic observation of court proceedings

Court proceedings in interim applications and final hearings involving families headed by a parent or parents with learning difficulties were observed with the aim of producing descriptive information about how such parents present in court and how the court process accommodates them.

Interviews with professionals and practitioners

Personal interviews and focus group discussions were held with a purposive sample of key personnel with experience of cases involving parents with learning difficulties including district and circuit judges, magistrates, solicitors, guardians ad litem, senior social workers and social work practitioners.

Interviews with parents

These interviews focussed on parents’ views and experiences of the assessment process and of the proceedings leading up to and including their court hearings.

Outcomes

The findings from the project:

• Provided an assessment of the progress that was being made towards implementing the government's objectives for supporting families and for improving children's social services in respect of children from families headed by a parent or parents with learning difficulties.

• Threw light on the working of the Department of Health's 'Quality Protects' programme and the new Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families in respect of this group of vulnerable families.

• Met the need on the part of solicitors, advocates, guardians ad litem and child protection workers for guidance on how to support parents with learning difficulties involved in care proceedings.

• Raised awareness of the obstacles to justice facing parents with learning difficulties involved in care proceedings.

Read the project final report to the Nuffield Foundation (PDF, 386KB)