Parents with Learning Disabilities
المؤلف:
APRIL HAMMOND
المصدر:
Caring for People with Learning Disabilities
الجزء والصفحة:
P160-C10
2025-10-28
50
Parents with Learning Disabilities
KEY POINTS
• There is still a significant number of parents with learning disabilities who have had their children taken into care.
• Historically, women with mild to moderate learning disabilities were targeted and referred to as ‘moral defectives’, especially if they were known or thought to be sexually active.
• Discriminatory beliefs about individuals can often be based on assumptions frequently derived from historical and cultural beliefs, passed on from generation to generation.
• Many years of discrimination have made it very difficult for people with learning disabilities to prove that they have the maturity and wisdom to be good parents.
At the turn of the twentieth century, generally, adults with learning disabilities were not considered capable of parenthood and many women with learning disabilities were incarcerated for ‘immoral behavior’ (Potts & Fido 1991) in institutions or hospitals if they became pregnant out of wedlock; in most cases, the children were taken away from them.
In today’s society, a more tolerant view is being promoted by services for parents with learning disabilities, with full government backing from the White Paper Valuing People (Department of Health 2001), although the true prevalence of these parents is unknown (Booth & Booth 1998).
However, it has been documented that there is still a significant number of parents with learning disabilities who have had their children taken into care (Booth et al. 2005), which may indicate that society may still lack confidence in trusting adults with learning disabilities to be good or even adequate parents. The reasons for this lack of confidence could be based on a variety of factors, which include unfounded, historically based prejudiced views, some of which current valuing beliefs and practices may not have totally dispelled. This may include beliefs that adults with learning disabilities may be too immature to have or develop adequate parenting skills (Thompson 2001).
Genetics and eugenics are also significant factors in a society in which genetic technology is used to determine the gender and physical status of the unborn child and deciding which children will be considered genetically acceptable and which will not, and could have a knock-on effect on society’s acceptance of people with learning disabilities as parents.
Another factor is the welfare of the children whose parents have a learning disability and, in particular, any stigma or discrimination that they may suffer as a direct result of having parents with learning disabilities. This may well influence professionals involved in child protection proceedings making decisions about the suitability of adults with learning disabilities as parents and the best environment for these children to grow up in.
These significant factors regarding learning disabilities will be explored in more detail and case studies will be used to illustrate their impact and other relevant implications for parents with learning disabilities and their supporters.
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