Children's Needs – Parenting Capacity - Digital Education Resource ...

136 Children’s Needs – Parenting CapacityTable 4.1: Proportion of children with identified unmet needs – children under 5 yearsDimensionParental substancemisuse n=66Parental learningdisability n=24Domestic violencen=70Health 46% 51% 65%Education 23% 53% 18%Emotional andbehaviouraldevelopment35% 38% 32%Identity 21% 38% 18%Family and social 58% 73% 61%relationshipsThese findings suggest that young children are more likely to experience unmetneeds in relation to their health and with regard to family and social relationships.It is also of concern that over half the children living with parents with learningdisabilities had educational needs, which suggests that many of these parentsexperienced difficulty in supporting and stimulating their children’s learning.In the original two studies, children were classified as having severe unmet needswhen social workers identified developmental needs in three or more of the fivedimensions – for example, severe need in relation to the child’s health, education,and family and social relationships. A re-analysis of the original data suggests that aquarter (25%) of children under five years who were living with parental substancemisuse or domestic violence (24%) had severe developmental needs, whereas 42%of those living with a parent with learning disabilities met the criteria.