Good enough care? A study of the difficulties Norwegian child welfare workers experience in working with mothers who have intellectual disabilities

Abstract

This article explores the experiences of child welfare workers in relation to families where mothers have intellectual disabilities. The study is based on data from focus group interviews with child welfare workers in municipal child welfare services. All of the child welfare workers say that mothers with intellectual disabilities have serious and widespread problems linked to parental functioning. The child welfare workers interviewed in this study conclude that these mothers often have inadequate or no education, poor economy, unstable employment, and unsatisfactory housing conditions. Although these problems are common among the parents child welfare comes into contact with in general, the mothers in question represent a special challenge because of their intellectual disabilities. The informants in this study say that they as child welfare workers need to question if 'normal' requirements from child welfare can be used with regard to mothers with intellectual disabilities in order to evaluate whether their children receive good enough care.

Parents with intellectual disabilities and their perspective of peer support: “It depends on how they give it”

“…Participants did not always believe that they were treated with respect and dignity by professionals they encountered, which prevented trust and was a support barrier. This might be due to a lack of knowledge and experience with people with intellectual disabilities, which has been noted in numerous studies (Gundersen, Young, & Pettersen, ; Jones, ). This is a crucial implication, as many parents in this study considered professionals as part of their peer support network.…”

Good Enough Support? Exploring the Attitudes, Knowledge and Experiences of Practitioners in Social Services and Child Welfare Working with Mothers with Intellectual Disability

“…Gundersen et al . () interviewed 19 child welfare workers and, due to participants' stereotyped opinions about mothers with intellectual disability, called for increased knowledge about intellectual disability among child welfare workers.…”

“…Similarly Jones (2013), in her interviews with six workers employed in a family centre, discovered that practitioners have limited access to knowledge about parents with intellectual disability, partially due to a lack of interdisciplinary and interagency links. Gundersen et al (2013) interviewed 19 child welfare workers and, due to participants' stereotyped opinions about mothers with intellectual disability, called for increased knowledge about intellectual disability among child welfare workers. The impact of inadequate practitioner knowledge about intellectual disability and ways to support mothers with intellectual disability may result in a lack of services.…”

Reasonable Efforts? Child Maltreatment Investigations and Service Referrals of Parents With Ascribed Cognitive Impairments in Canada

“…It remains unclear whether disparities in service referrals are driven by the misnomer that parents with CI are “congenitally unfit” and incapable of learning, by a lack of appropriately adapted services (i.e., referral options), or by another mechanism. Studies have shown that caseworkers often hold the same prejudicial attitudes toward parents with CI that are widespread in the community (Booth et al, 2005; Gunderson et al, 2013; Strnadová et al, 2016). That is, parents with ID are typically viewed as “less than” (McConnell & Llewellyn, 2005), dependent and vulnerable (Llewellyn & McConnell, 2005; Pacheco & McConnell, 2017).…”

“…That is, parents with ID are typically viewed as “less than” (McConnell & Llewellyn, 2005), dependent and vulnerable (Llewellyn & McConnell, 2005; Pacheco & McConnell, 2017). Gunderson et al (2013) conducted focus groups with child protection workers and found that the general belief was that mothers with ID were simply “not equipped to live up to” (pg. 9) the normative child protection services parenting standards.…”