Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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et al., 1997), ensuring that all aspects of support are provided at a
level that the parent understands (McConnell et al., 1997).
• Clear <strong>Literature</strong> and coordinated <strong>Review</strong> on referral Provision and of Appropriate assessment and procedures Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
between health and social care providers are vital in order to
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
recognise support needs at an early stage of parenting and to
anticipate needs that might arise at different stages of family
life. Adult and children’s services, and health and social care
providers, should agree protocols for referrals, assessments and
care pathways to respond appropriately and promptly to both the
parents’ and their children’s needs.
• Families that are affected by parental learning disabilities may
benefit from many types of service including support in using
universal antenatal and postnatal services, parent groups,
courses in parenting skills, counselling and family planning
services (DH and DfES, 2007).
• Long-term support should be provided where necessary (DH and
DfES, 2007); for example, practical support that is sustained over
the longer term and directed towards reinforcing and developing
parents’ own skills (Booth and Booth, 1995a).
• Self-advocacy support should be made available to parents to
help build confidence and self-esteem, and to prevent parenting
problems such as poor hygiene or failure to attend mother and
baby groups (DH and DfES, 2007).
• Provision of independent advice or advocacy: without independent
advocacy support for parents, the negative views held by some
practitioners about the parenting abilities of people with learning
difficulties make actions and decisions that are detrimental
to their interests more likely (Booth and Booth, 1995a: 301).
According to Baum and Burns (2007), women with learning
disabilities are often ambivalent about the whole idea of support,
because they have often experienced it as reinforcing their
negative social identities. It is important, therefore, that mothers