Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Spotlight publication

Drawing on the latest research, the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory has published a Spotlight publication – What are the experiences of parents with learning disabilities or difficulties in care proceedings? 

The key findings are:  

• A high proportion of care proceedings concerning babies involve parents with learning disabilities / difficulties. 
• Late identification of learning disabilities / difficulties means that assessments and interventions are unlikely to be tailored to parents’ learning needs. 
• Reasons for late identification of learning disabilities / difficulties include a lack of confidence and experience among social workers, time pressures, and delays in obtaining specialist assessments. 
• Insufficient communication, coordination and understanding across adult and children’s social care impacts negatively on ensuring appropriate support for parents with learning disabilities/difficulties. 
• Advocates and intermediaries have an important role to play in enabling parents with learning disabilities/ difficulties to engage fully in meetings and court proceedings. 
• The term ‘substituted parenting’ is unclear and unhelpful. 
• There is need for post-proceedings support for parents with learning disabilities / difficulties who lose their children through care proceedings. 

The Spotlight publication is well worth reading, as it: 

• Highlights the need to apply the principles of the Good Practice Guidance on working with Parents with a Learning Disability (Working Together with Parents Network, 2021).  
• Outlines the principles of good practice in making adjustments for parents with learning disabilities and learning difficulties arising from Babies in care proceedings: What do we know about parents with learning disabilities or difficulties? (Burch et al. 2024).  
• Showcases a practice example in the form of Durham’s pre-birth intervention service.  
• Poses reflective questions to support professionals to analyse their own knowledge, think about what is in place in their local areas and what activities might support systemic and practice improvements.  
• Flags a range of other relevant resources including the Research in Practice Strategic Briefing: Supporting parents who have learning disabilities (Turney, Tarleton, and Tilbury, 2018).