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 will run for two years from September 2001)
are:
- to investigate
how child protection cases involving parents with learning difficulties
are 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 are 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 will be used to fulfil the research aims:
DOCUMENT REVIEW
This part of the
study will involve two phases:
Phase 1
A document review
will be undertaken of case papers (focussing on initial assessments,
core assessments and plans for children) to assess (1) 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 and (2) how far these assessments
made provision for the needs of the parents.
Phase 2
A similar review
of court papers will be undertaken 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 will
be 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 will be 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
will focus on parents’ views and experiences of the assessment
process and of the proceedings leading up to and including their
court hearings.
Planned Outcomes
The findings from
the project will:
- Provide an assessment
of the progress that is 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.
- Throw 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.
- Meet 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.
- Raise awareness
of the obstacles to justice facing parents with learning difficulties
involved in care proceedings.
 Click here to download a pdf version of the Final Report on the project to The Nuffield Foundation
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