“Parenting With Support”: The Views and Experiences of Parents With Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

The international literature on parents with intellectual disabilities (ID) has focused on concerns about their ability to parent and strategies to enable them to develop parenting skills. Traditionally, the views and experiences of parents themselves have not been the focus of studies. With this in mind, the authors talked to a cohort of 30 parents as part of a mapping study of issues and positive practice in supporting parents with ID and their children in the UK. They report on the parents' experiences of being provided with ongoing, proactive support, to enable them to parent to the best of their ability and describe the types of practical and emotional support that helped them to develop parenting skills and overcome wider problems, such as falling into debt, that were impacting their families. Enabling adults with ID to “parent with support” appeared to safeguard their children, whose health and safety is a primary object of concern for services. If parents had access to supports, they could keep their children and enjoy an enhanced quality of family life together. The authors conclude that with appropriate help from services parents can be enabled to support each other, to develop confidence, and to engage more positively with the professionals and systems responsible for safeguarding the welfare of their children.

‘I have the jab so I can't be blamed for getting pregnant’: Contraception and women with learning disabilities

“…Society needs to invest more resources into supporting women with learning disabilities to become, and remain, good parents to any children they do have (Tarleton & Ward, 2007). If this were done, then some of the fears about women with learning disabilities becoming pregnant could perhaps be somewhat assuaged.…”

The postnatal support needs of mothers with an intellectual disability

“…This is also the time when parents first learn to nurture and care for their child. Support at this time is likely to be particularly important for parents with ID, as research suggests that many experience difficulties in childcare (Kroese et al, 2002;Tarleton and Ward, 2007). This difficulty may be exacerbated for mothers by the experience of undiagnosed mental health problems (Cotson et al, 2001;O'Keefe and O'Hara, 2008), such as postnatal depression, particularly because screening tools may not be as reliable when used in this population (Gaskin and James, 2006).…”

“…Tarleton et al, 2006;Department of Health, 2007), there is only a limited evidence base which focuses on parental experiences of formal support. This highlights the importance of being listened to and receiving practical support with parenting skills (Tarleton and Ward, 2007), as well as receiving appropriate and accessible information in a non-judgemental context (Starke, 2010). Walsh-Gallagher et al …”

Parentalité et déficience intellectuelle : exploration des représentations sociales des intervenants impliqués

“…Différents obstacles à la création d'un lien de confiance entre les parents ayant une DI/LI et les professionnels émergent des écrits (Jones, 2013;McConnell, Llewellyn et Bye, 1997;Starke, 2010;Tarleton et Ward, 2007). Parmi ceux-ci se retrouvent les attitudes négatives, les préjugés et les stéréotypes; des éléments qui correspondent aux fondements de leurs RS.…”