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

74 Children’s Needs – Parenting CapacityApproximately three-quarters of children (76%) living with domestic violence, asimilar proportion (73%) of those living with parental substance misuse and halfthe children (48%) living with a parent with a learning disability were assessed asnot having a stable family environment in which to develop and maintain a secureattachment to a parent figure 6 (Cleaver et al. 2007; Cleaver and Nicholson 2007).Social consequencesParental mental illness, learning disability, problematic alcohol and drug use ordomestic violence are associated with a variety of social consequences which are similarto the majority of children and families receiving child-care social work support(Sheppard 1993 and 1997; Cleaver and Walker with Meadows 2004). Althoughthese are explored from the starting point of parental problems, it is importantto note that mental illness, problem drinking or drug use may be understandablereactions to intolerable life circumstances (Brown and Harris 1978).Three issues are of particular significance for parenting:the impact on living standardsthe loss of friends and familythe disruption of family relationships.Impact on living standardsParental mental illness, learning disability, excessive drinking and drug use and theconsequences of domestic violence can have financial consequences. For example,the bizarre and unpredictable behaviour of the schizophrenic, the weariness andinactivity of the depressive, the fear and terror of the anxious, the lack of abstractthinking, literacy and numeracy of the learning disabled, the unstable lifestyle ofthe substance misuser and the desire to keep domestic violence private can makeit difficult to sustain a job. Longstanding disability or illness is correlated withunemployment; only 20% of people with mental health problems are employed,and for people with learning disabilities the employment rate is 25% (Morrisand Wates 2006). Similarly, the uncontrolled and exaggerated mood swings andirritability associated with problem drinking and drug misuse can affect the parent’sability to keep a job. Some 50% of people treated for problem drinking have beensacked because of their drinking (Velleman 1993). When jobs are lost family incomeis reduced. Canadian research suggests unemployment is high among parents usingcocaine or crack – only 7% of families had salaries as the main source of income(Leslie 1993).6The 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.