Book review
Title: Parental Learning Disability and Children's Needs. Family Experiences and Effective Practice
Author(s): Hedy Cleaver and Don Nicholson
Year: 2007
Edition: 1
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley
ISBN: 9781843106326
Price: £19.99
Reviewer: Rachel Matthews, Practice Learning Development Officer, Torfaen County Council
Review date: 15/12/2008
Table of contents and more information
Over the last 25 years of working in the field of social work, some of my time has been spent working with both children and families and adults who have a learning disability. Any person that I work with has a right to a quality of life and while we have a duty of care to protect individuals we also have a duty to ensure that everyone has a right to succeed or has at least been given the opportunity to do so. But as we have seen from circumstances of late the situation needs to be risk managed appropriately and closely monitored.
The arena of children being parented by their mother or both parents with a learning disability has often been a fraught and anxious management for professionals who work on both sides of the divide. What I liked about the book Parental Learning Disability and Children’s Needs is that this is potentially the first book which examines the positives as well as the risks and how those risks may be best managed or support systems adapted.
The introduction begins with the underpinning legislation which includes the Human Rights Act 1998, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted in the UK in 1992). The introduction clearly outlines linked research which shows that there is no co-relation between IQ and good parenting and evidences well that the ability to parent is often based on our own experiences of how we were parented.
The Assessment Framework is also covered at the beginning of the book, but rightly expressed in terms of the fact that while these are requirements of 'good parenting', as with any skill that we possess, they can be learnt. What I liked about this book is that it examines a number of cases, concerning both children who have parents with a learning disability as well as those who do not. They examine the developmental needs of the children, factors that encourage or hamper the parenting abilities and the outcomes for the children.
Subsequent chapters include Referrals to Children’s Social Care, Involving Families in the Assessment Process and The Provision of Services and Outcomes for Children and a Conclusion. Although this book may seem fairly short it is a thought provoking and insightful book. This book presents sound arguments for not reacting immediately and removing the child, but for trying to sustain the family and ensure that all appropriate support mechanisms are put into place.
I feel that the ethos and philosophy of this book should be supplied to students as a part of social work training, as all too often we are still at loggerheads in our agencies, (between adults and children services) and there are still no cohesive service plans when it comes to children and their parents who have a learning disability.
A sound evidence based book which relates appropriately and directly to practice and should provide students and practitioners alike an opportunity to re-examine their ethics, values and professional practice when working with families whose parent or parents have a learning disability.
