These resources aim to support parents with learning disabilities or learning difficulties to understand the messages from research programmes.
Getting things changed: Supporting parents well
An easy-read summary of a report looking into how parents with learning disabilities and learning difficulties can be supported to be good parents.
The project involved talking to eight parents about the support they got.
It also involved talking to professionals about what they thought about parents with learning disabilities and learning difficulties generally and what support they needed.
Click on the image to read the report.
Substituted parenting in the family court
This easy-read document summarises the outputs of the Substituted Parenting programme.
The project’s overall aim was to develop a common understanding of the meaning and use of the term 'substituted parenting' by legal and social work professionals.
Click on the image to read the report or watch the short film below to discover more about the programme.
Substituted parenting
This video explains what substituted parenting is, the risks it presents to children and their parents, and what can be done to prevent it from happening.
Substituted parenting is a term used in the family courts and can lead to children being removed from learning disabled parents. This can be an alienating experience where professionals take over the parents' role. In some circumstances, action through the courts citing substituted parenting as the factor for removal of children from their disabled parents may be discriminatory.
Substituted parenting can be avoided when professionals support parents to build and develop their parenting skills, and some people with a learning disability may need support to adapt their parenting approach as the child grows up and their needs change.
Working effectively with parents involves supporting parents to understand:
- what a professional's role is
- what their professional worries about the child are
- what the parent will need to do to address these worries to ensure the child is safe and well
Parents need:
- scaffolding so they are able to learn and develop the skills they need to successfully parent
- professionals to ask how they would like to be supported and to review how the support is going as their parenting skills develop
- an advocate and a network of support that includes friends and family, together with professionals from health, social care, and community services
- the right support, at the right time, in the right way.
About being a dad
This easy-read leaflet was written by dads, for dads.
It summarises real life experiences of how dads have felt when involved with professionals like health visitors and children's social workers.
It offers some simple advice on what to do in these situations and details where to get further help and guidance.
Click on the image to read the leaflet or watch the short film below to find out more about this project.
This video explores NIHR-funded research findings around learning disabled fathers’ experiences of adult social care services.
Key findings:
- fathers need to be identified in referrals and included in family support work coordinated jointly by adults and children’s services
- despite fathers needing it, practical and emotional support is often focused on mothers
- support for fathers is often around housing and independent living skills, but not parenting
- processes often aren’t accessible
- fathers are often not listened to
- high levels of stress meant that half of the fathers in the study had had to seek mental health support
- time is needed to understand the person and their individual needs.