ABSTRACT
'Parental competence
and parents with learning difficulties'
and
'Parenting in context: policy, practice and the Pollocks'
Tim Booth and
Wendy Booth
Child and Family Social Work,
1(2), 1996, pp. 81-86 and pp. 93-96
Parental adequacy
is widely seen as a function of individual parenting skills.
This assumption renders parents with learning difficulties vulnerable
to discriminatory treatment in child protection work. A presumption
of incompetence leads practitioners to focus on the parents'
deficits and intensifies concerns about the welfare of the children.
Using case material from a recent study, the authors argue for
a wider conception of good-enough parenting that takes into account
the external pressures that impact on family functioning.
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