BASW England response to Channel 5 report on significant numbers of children of disabled parents being taken into care
BASW England has issued the following statement in response to Channel 5's report showing significant numbers of children of disabled parents being taken into care:
Social workers do not recommend to the courts that a child be removed from their parents care lightly and, in many instances, social workers will be struggling with the knowledge that a lack of available specific support to parents with disabilities has played a part in that decision, which for many is heart breaking and in conflict with the very reasons they became a social worker.
There are pockets of good practice across the country, but this is often reliant upon the individual social worker setting up specialist provision, as the government hasn’t outlined a clear strategy – nor provided funding – on how children and adult services should work together to provide support to families were a parent with disabilities needs support in their parenting role.
BASW England believes that while 24/7 support for parents with disabilities is not a long-term solution, for many families, daily or weekly ongoing support until a child turns 18 is vital and is morally and ethically the right thing to do, while also being more cost effective than the process of removing a child from their family.
Without these resources and caring support packages to help parents with disabilities though, social workers are left with extremely difficult choices on what is best for the child.
The Government needs to provide clear guidance and crucially, long term funding, in this area in their upcoming strategy to reform children’s services.