Why should parents with learning disabilities receive parenting skills training and advocacy support to enable them to be the best parents they can be? Parents with learning disabilities are more likely to have their children at risk of being taken into care; around 40% of these parents do not live with their children.

A learning disability affects the way a person learns new things in any area of his or her life. A person with a learning disability could have difficulty understanding complex information, learning new skills and being independent. This disability could be mild, medium or severe.

People with learning disabilities are more likely to be affected by low literacy, social isolation, poverty, poor mental health and stigma. Stigma about their ability to parents can come from family, the wider society and professionals. The truth is that one’s level of intelligence doesn't have a direct link to one’s ability to parents.

Unfortunately, people living with learning disabilities face these challenges daily as they come to terms with their impending pregnancy and role as parents. As stated in the ‘Good Practice Guidance on Working with Parents with a Learning Disability 2007’, such parents, like all other parents, have the right to be supported in their parenting role. Their children also have the right to live in a safe, supportive environment. However, this support isn't automatically available.

Barnet Parenting Plus was piloted in 2014 to demonstrate that, given the right support, parents with learning disabilities could learn skills and gain confidence to create safe and loving homes for their children. The project was targeted at parents who children were at risk of being taken into care; however, in the case of one particular couple, their 3 children had already been taken into care when they came to us.

What the project offered: The parents attended the ‘Solihull Approach to understanding your child’ parenting programme. This programme that was originally designed for mothers and babies focuses on the emotional health and well-being of the parent and child, while helping parents to understand the behaviour of their children.

Each parent was paired up with a volunteer who provided one-to-one support during each parenting session. Volunteers received training in advocacy and working with people with learning disabilities. Volunteers actively contributed in the parenting sessions, which increased parental trust and confidence in the team.

Volunteers also received intensive one-to-one advocacy support. Parents were accompanied to solicitor meetings, child protection and family conferences, and complex documents were explained as required. As the project evolved, the parents grew in confidence and were more open to engaging with statutory services. The following case studies show that intervening early can make a difference to the families of parents with learning disabilities.

Patricia was a lone parent whose 10 year-old daughter, Amy, was on a Child Protection Plan (CPP) due to neglect and exposure to inappropriate sexual material. At the start, her self-esteem was extremely low and felt unable to set boundaries for her daughter. As Patricia learnt to recognise and name her feelings, she felt stronger and was able to help her daughter express her feelings. Relationships improved and she felt more in control of her own health and well-being, as well as her daughter’s. By the end of the parenting course, Amy was taken off the CPP, and additional support was put in place to support Patricia in the home.

In the case of Darren and Louise, their 3 boys had already been taken into care at the start of the programme due to concerns, including neglect and aggression from the children. They both showed commitment and made tremendous progress towards positive change. They were able to practice their newly acquired skills, such as setting boundaries and rewards, when they visited the boys at the contact centre. As a result of this progress, their older son, Derek, was allowed by the court to visit home over 6 weekends on a trial basis. During this period, we worked very closely with social services to ensure the family’s needs were being met through volunteer-led intensive 1:1 (one-to-one) home support. Derek returned home permanently before Christmas.

At the cost of £20,000 from Barnet Council and the Big Lottery Awards for All, this project proved that with the right support at the right time, better outcomes could be achieved for families of parents with learning disabilities. An estimated saving of around £571,400 was made.

Barnet Parenting Plus beat stiff competition to win the 2015 Children and Young People Now Award for Early Intervention. The criteria for winning this award is for the initiative that has intervened early and most effectively with children and young people at risk from problems, such as poor health, dropping out of education and poor outcomes for future generations. The judging panel described the project as ‘innovative’ and ‘good value.’

Footnote: all names have been changed to protect the identities of the families involved.