Parents with learning disabilities and difficulties face a deeply stigmatising child welfare system, one in which they are disproportionately likely to lose their children. Despite ongoing efforts to promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in UK policy and practice, these parents often remain invisible in discussions about parenting, support and state intervention.

Learning Disability Week takes place in the third week of June. The lives of people with learning disabilities are often overlooked and remain hidden in the shadows of society. This year’s theme, “Do you see me?”, challenges society to acknowledge and engage with these often overlooked lives. The call is especially urgent for parents, who face scrutiny, judgement and systemic disadvantage in child protection and care proceedings.

Before exploring these challenges, it is helpful to clarify two terms that are often confused in policy and academic literature: learning disabilities and learning difficulties.

A learning disability, sometimes called an intellectual disability, includes the presence of a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information and learn new skills, together with a reduced ability to cope independently. This begins before adulthood and has a lasting effect on development.

In contrast, a learning difficulty refers to a reduced intellectual ability in a specific form of learning. It includes conditions such as dyslexia, which affects reading, dyspraxia, which affects physical coordination, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A person with a learning disability may also have one or more learning difficulties.

Understanding these distinctions is essential when considering how the child welfare system responds, or fails to respond, to the needs and rights of parents with these diagnoses.

What do we know about parents with learning disabilities?

Although the number of parents with learning disabilities and learning difficulties is thought to be increasing, reflecting greater recognition of their rights, the exact figures remain unknown. Estimates suggest that around 1 to 2 percent of births in England are to parents with a learning difficulty. Research in this area is still limited and, where studies do exist, most focus on mothers rather than fathers. Mothers are usually the primary caregivers for children, reflecting traditional gender norms. As a result, mothers with learning disabilities are more likely to come into contact with social services and therefore become visible to the system, while fathers often remain overlooked.

Many parents with learning disabilities remain unidentified by services until late in the process. A recent study from the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NFJO) found that in approximately 75 percent of reviewed cases, learning disabilities or difficulties were only recognised during care proceedings. This late identification suggests that appropriate parenting support and tailored assessments were likely missing beforehand.

As a result, some parents may not fully understand the care proceedings process, what is expected of them, or the implications of professional decisions. Outcomes in these cases are often troubling. NFJO research showed that one in three parents at risk of having their babies removed had a learning disability or difficulty. Eighty one percent were referred to children’s social care during pregnancy, most in the first and second trimesters.

Barriers to parenting and support

Parents with learning disabilities often face a combination of socioeconomic disadvantage, environmental adversity, poor mental health and limited intergenerational support. These challenges increase the likelihood of child removal and compound the difficulty of parenting in already complex circumstances.

In addition, many of these parents experience social isolation and exclusion, with limited informal support from family or friends. This lack of informal networks increases their reliance on professional services, which often fail to offer adequate or appropriate support. Communication between parents and social care professionals is frequently ineffective and poorly tailored. Too often, parents’ needs are minimised or ignored altogether.

This failure is not neutral. It reflects persistent stigmatising attitudes towards their role as parents. These attitudes are often rooted in assumptions that parents with learning disabilities and difficulties are inherently incapable, rather than recognising the importance of support and adaptation.

Stigma and a system that reinforces it

“We want to be parents like everybody else”

Parents with learning disabilities and difficulties are often stigmatised because of the “disabled” label. They are judged not by what they can do, but by what others assume they cannot do. Many report being assessed primarily through the lens of their diagnosis rather than being recognised as individuals and parents.

At the root of this stigma is a broader societal view that people with learning disabilities are childlike, asexual or incapable of safe parenting. These assumptions frequently lead to disapproval from both professionals and wider social networks, particularly when parents disclose a pregnancy. As one participant in a study by Franklin et al. shared:

“The doctors didn’t really want me to have the baby, with me having a learning disability.”

Such discouragement is often intensified when mothers are inexperienced. A study by Gould and Dodd quoted one participant who explained:

“…that’s when it all started going wrong, when she said, well you know, you’re quite young, you being a first time mum we don’t think he’s safe in your hands.”

“…instead of giving me negative she could have given me positive. ‘Oh, he’s going to be taken away from you no matter what you do’, that didn’t help me.”

Despite this stigma, many parents with learning disabilities and difficulties actively seek support. Studies show that they are often aware of their needs, demonstrate a willingness to work with services, and see asking for help as a sign of strength. Yet instead of being encouraged, they frequently report feeling criticised and discouraged by professionals.

Research also shows that these parents are often placed under exceptional scrutiny. They are expected to prove not only their parenting competence but also their “worthiness” to be a parent, standards that are rarely applied to parents without learning disabilities and are not always clearly explained. Many do not fully understand the expectations placed on them during parenting assessments, or even that they are being assessed. As a result, when their children are removed, parents are often left confused, frustrated and betrayed, feeling that they did everything asked of them yet were still judged as not enough.

A system that undermines trust

These experiences reflect a system that continues to hold ableist and stigmatising views of parenting. Parents’ voices are too often silenced or dismissed by professionals, even though these professionals may be their only source of support due to social isolation.

Parents described feeling tricked or misled, believing the system was there to help, only to encounter judgement and loss. One especially troubling finding is that when a parent with a learning disability is in a relationship with a partner who does not have one, professionals often assume that the partner is more competent, even in situations involving domestic abuse.

The result is a system that may overlook the vulnerabilities and risks faced by the parent themselves, such as mental health challenges or substance use, and instead focus narrowly on the perceived risk associated with the disability.

In short, rather than building trust, the system often undermines it. It assumes that parents with learning disabilities and difficulties are not good enough and too often moves towards child removal rather than supporting families. This climate of surveillance discourages parents from seeking help and erodes the possibility of meaningful and supportive engagement.

To listen, to value, to include

A fundamental issue remains. People with learning disabilities are too often seen only through the lens of what they cannot do rather than who they are. In a society built around non disabled norms, this leads to exclusion and misunderstanding.

For parents with learning disabilities, stigma surrounding their parenting abilities, and even whether they should be parents at all, deepens the challenges they already face. Yet these parents are not passive. They embrace their role, advocate for their rights and seek to be recognised as capable and committed caregivers. They want to be trusted rather than judged, valued as parents rather than defined by their diagnosis.

Learning Disability Week offers an opportunity to reflect on how we, as professionals, institutions and communities, can better support these families. Instead of reinforcing a system that judges and disempowers, we must build one that listens to, values and includes parents with learning disabilities.

Mrs Jodi Lo is a fourth-year Criminology and Sociology student at Lancaster University. In this blog, Jodi reflects on the challenges faced by parents with learning disabilities and difficulties. While these parents face multiple societal barriers, Jodi highlights how stigma plays a central role in their overrepresentation in child protection systems and the removal of their children.

Related Blogs

• 

  Seeking justice for historic forced adoption

• 

  Count us properly: Why ethnicity data reform matters for Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities

• 

  Beyond Security: Supporting Young Survivors in the Aftermath of Terror

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.