Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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5.10 Key findings
Key findings from this section are presented below, including the
learning from the section which highlights features of effective support
for parents with intellectual disability:
<strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
Parenting and intellectual disability
• Research from a number of countries has demonstrated
that there is an increasing number of parents with learning
disabilities in contact with services.
• Llewellyn and McConnell (2005) identified key lessons based on
their research with parents with learning disabilities including
the heterogeneity of parents with intellectual disability; the
predictable challenges they face related to the intellectual
disability label (e.g. low expectations about their abilities, difficult
personal and socio-economic circumstances) and finally their
shared achievements, and resilience in the face of hardship,
as well as their efforts to demonstrate their ability to do things
‘normally’.
• Tools for identifying parents with learning difficulties have been
developed.
• A consistent finding from the literature is that mothers with
intellectual disability typically experience poverty and hardship in
raising their children (McConnell et al., 2003b). They are usually
socially isolated and consequently lack the supports necessary to
escape psychological stress.
Family and social support networks
• The centrality of family members in the support networks
of mothers with intellectual disability emerged. Despite the
development of formal support services, assistance from
extended family continued to be crucial in determining whether
or not mothers with intellectual disabilities retained custody
of their children. This assistance typically came from female
relatives, and involved practical and emotional assistance, as