The judiciary have been given fresh recommendations for proceedings involving babies with mothers who have learning disabilities or other difficulties following a report on commonly reported risk factors and circumstances.
A study by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory titled: Babies in care proceedings: What do we know about parents with learning disabilities or difficulties? has recommendations for leaders of the judiciary, the bar and solicitors working in family courts after studying the impact of mothers with mental disabilities during care proceedings.
The study’s findings seek to act as a springboard to encourage the sharing of findings and discussion about its recommendations widely, including through local family justice boards. The report suggests professionals consider requiring local authorities to pay for a cognitive assessment during care proceedings where there is evidence of wasted costs resulting from such an assessment not having been undertaken during pre-proceedings.
There wad also suggestions to improve the rollout of vulnerable witness training for all advocates working in care proceedings and develop specific training for the judiciary.
As substance abuse was identified as a contributing factor to mental health difficulties with mothers who have been referred the report urged the consideration of whether and how some or all Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) processes could be applied to parents with learning disabilities or difficulties to improve the experience and effectiveness of support offered during and at the conclusion of care proceedings.
In 28 per cent of the cases involving mothers or fathers with learning disabilities or learning difficulties, there was evidence the child’s father had other children already taken into local authority care. However, in many other cases, this was simply ‘unknown’, and so may underestimate the true proportion.
At the point of referral into children’s social care services, parental learning disabilities or learning difficulties were very infrequently mentioned as a concern or risk, or even identified. Far more frequently, the professional concerns expressed in referral and early assessment documentation were about at least one of the parent’s mental health or substance misuse issues, or about domestic abuse. These were expressed as the main concerns.
Mothers’ mental health difficulties were part of the history taken into account (in 76 per cent of cases), also past relationships characterised by domestic abuse (in 73 per cent of cases) and/or substance misuse (in 48 per cent of cases). Historical concerns about fathers’ mental health were less frequent (in 40 per cent of cases) but concerns about their involvement in relationships characterised by domestic abuse (at 67 per cent) or substance misuse (55 per cent) were equally strong.
Other factors also frequently referenced and taken into account when evaluating family strengths and risks at or around the time of referral included: parent being exploited by others – mostly mothers (45per cent),parent isolation (40per cent),parental criminal activity – mostly fathers (31 per cent), parental physical disabilities (22 per cent), parent exploiting others – mostly fathers (22 per cent) and housing-related factors, such as homelessness or living in a hostel (24 per cent).
“Vulnerable young parents with either learning difficulties, or learning vulnerabilities, that are in abusive relationships…I mean domestic abuse I would say runs a very strong vein through pretty much all our cases, I’d say all my cases at the moment, certainly” said an Independent reviewing officer.
At around the time of referral, social workers and multi-agency safeguarding teams were most concerned about the potential for child neglect, followed by emotional abuse, physical abuse or sexual abuse of the child.
Social care professionals frequently noted that pre-birth referrals, referrals of babies under a year old and child protection processes made up a significant proportion of their work. Sometimes these professionals considered there had been recent increases in the number of referrals of babies and children pre-birth, either because of the covid pandemic (which had restricted health visitor access to families for a period of time), or because of cuts to early help services more generally.
Most professional interviewees of all types considered that parental learning disabilities or learning difficulties were only rarely the sole factor or cause of child protection concerns. From their perspectives, the other factors of greater concern were usually domestic abuse or unhealthy relationships, substance misuse, mental ill-health, and/or parent vulnerability to exploitation in the community. Intergenerational cycles of abuse and neglect and poverty were also considered to be key factors. Young (prospective) parents with a social care history and/or a combination of other risk factors were also sometimes considered to be particularly vulnerable.
Some professional interviewees went on to suggest that combinations of risk factors made holistic support plans difficult to get right because these other factors seemed more obviously and immediately risky.
“What I tend to find with parents with learning difficulties is there’s always other factors… like the substance misuse, domestic abuse, because of their vulnerabilities. So it’s quite hard to support them when there are lots of different factors I think, because other factors take priority” commented a Team manager.
