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

How mental illness, learning disability, substance misuse anddomestic violence affect parenting capacity 672007 for problem substance misuse; Stanley et al 2009 for domestic violence). Asense of apathy, feelings of inadequacy or a poor skill-set can affect the quality ofparents’ interactions with their children. Devoting time to playing, talking, goingout and taking an interest in their child’s world may, at times, prove too difficult.Research shows that when children are referred to children’s social care services,initial assessments reveal that over half the children (57%) of parents with a learningdisability were not being provided with adequate stimulation – the rate fell to 30%both for children living with substance-misusing parents and those living withdomestic violence 1 (Cleaver et al. 2007; Cleaver and Nicholson 2007).Parents with learning disabilities need much encouragement, support andtraining to acquire the necessary skills to bring up a child. Limited literacy meansthat information about how to parent cannot be gleaned from reading relevantleaflets and magazine articles; a restricted vocabulary and difficulty in understandingabstract concepts makes it harder to comprehend and retain the informationgiven by professionals such as health visitors and midwives. When new skills aregained, parents with learning disabilities have more difficulty than other parentsin generalising newly acquired skills to keep abreast of their child’s developmentalprogress. Parenting is also hampered because a learning disability makes it hardto establish routines and to cope adequately with unexpected and unanticipatedevents; life can easily become disorganised.A disorganised lifestyle will have a differential impact on children depending ontheir age, development and personality. A lack of supervision leaves babies, youngchildren and disabled children particularly vulnerable, but older children are also atrisk of neglect. For example, some parents who are opiate dependent allow othersto inject heroin in their homes, despite believing that their drug dependence andassociated lifestyle are potentially harmful to their children (Hogan 2003).The children were being left to their own devices. Danielle (aged 8 years) was leftin the bedroom alone and unsupervised with drug-using men in the house. Shewas at risk of anything. They could have abused her. They were high on drugs.Morgan (aged 4 years) was also unsupervised.(Social worker’s notes on a family referred to children’s social care, quoted inCleaver et al. 2007, p.87; mother depressed, her partner a drug misuser)Initial assessments carried out by social workers in children’s social care showedthat parents were not adequately ensuring their child’s safety in 93% of cases wherechildren lived with substance-misusing parents, 73% of cases where children livedwith domestic violence and 58% of cases where a parent had a learning disability 2(Cleaver et al. 2007; Cleaver and Nicholson 2007).1The statistics provided are the result of a re-analysis of data gathered for two research studies: Cleaver andNicholson 2007 and Cleaver et al. 2007. The research did not cover children living with mentally ill parents and,consequently, such detailed information is not available.2See footnote 1.