Job Description
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A demanding, challenging long term role in a variety settings and
situations, requiring commitment, an ability to be flexible, organised,
positive, creative and forward thinking.
• Good communication, diplomacy, team and finance management skills
are essential
• A capacity to work unsocial, hours including evenings, nights,
weekends and potentially long, frequent, 24, hour shifts, on call.
• May also involve long distance travel in difficult circumstances.
• No previous experience required, ongoing on-the-job training offered
RESPONSIBILITIES :
• Deal quickly and efficiently with difficult situations using good
judgment and quick thinking..
• A willingness to deal with a wide range of problem solving challenges,
as well as supporting others mentally and emotionally etc dependent
on their needs.
• Must be immediately available as and when needed
• Must manage & maintain diaries, appointments, calls and all relevant
paperwork
• Be responsible for all aspects of maintenance of the environment one is
in
Take ultimate responsibility for the quality of the end
product.
Parenth
Challenges & Solutions
ood
Our Aims…
Disabled Parents Network aims to educate and
increase society’s acceptance of disability in
parenthood.
Our Vision…
is of a society which accepts disability and
parenthood and provides the opportunities and
support to enable disabled people to have and to
bring up their children on an equal basis with
non-disabled parents.
Disabled Parent Network’s
definition of Parents includes:
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Any person with an actual or perceived physical, sensory,
emotional or learning impairment, long-term illness, HIV, drug
or alcohol dependence or a person with a mental health issue.
These impairments may be obvious, hidden, long term or short
term may be congenital or acquired before or after the birth of a
child, e.g. road traffic accident.
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prospective parents
grandparents
same sex couples
those who raise, adopt or foster children
step-parents
biological parents
Becoming a parent
Choice
Maternity Matters
3 April 2007 278867
‘We are aware of difficulties with the collection of
data. Whilst there is information on age and gender,
information on race tends to be patchy.
Information on disability can be problematic due to the many definitions
that people use. Senior Department of Health officials are looking at
solutions to this current lack of reliable data’.
‘My husband married me because he chose to. When we told everyone about our
baby, he wasn't congratulated, he was told off. No one celebrated, they just worried’.
‘We were grown adults, but we were treated like children’
Is information available in accessible formats?
Are staff aware of the range of formats that may be needed and
how to obtain them?
Are pregnancy testing, antenatal services accessible to all?
How accessible are Maternity units?
Antenatal
Scans
Blood and other tests
The Birth
6 or minus 4
A Parent
The new routines of parenthood are difficult for many to adjust to
but for some knowing how to and being able to may involve
creative thinking, or additional support.
Breastfeeding /Feeding
Bathing
Nappy changing
So What Are the Barriers?
• Access
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To information
To appropriate equipment
To services
Physical environment
Lack of support
Poverty
Lack of role models
Attitudes in society
Equipment
Child Carrier for
Wheelchair
Bespoke Beanbag cushion
Remap image ttp://www.remap.org.uk/remap/cases2.html
Pull Bar for Pushchair
http://www.remap.org.uk/remap/cases2.html
Pushchair control
Remap image
A midwife supporting a young woman with
Cerebral Palsy and learning difficulty who wants
to give birth naturally, but whose parents are
insisting she have a section,. “You can't possibly have a baby due to
your Cerebal Palsy and involuntary
“It's best not to breastfeed
movements, you will shake your baby to
him as you may not be
death”. Health visitor in June 2009.
keeping him.”- Midwife,
August 2009
A parent with complex health needs is refused the hours they request
and has a limited amount of medical provision allocated by Health.
“While you, (Social Services) are having your meetings, our family are
drowning”.
As a result of moving from one authority to another a family, whose
only way to receive support was to have their child(ren) on Child
Protection Register, were advised at the receiving Child Protection
Meeting that their new authority fully acknowledged their
responsibility to disabled parents. Their former LA Safeguarding
Board apologises unreservedly to the parents and accepts all parts of
the complaint lodged
Quotes
“ In this complex and unknown situation, we often find that complex and multi
departmental solutions offer the best support” (the complex and unknown
situation was a pregnant woman who uses crutches to mobilise!) -Services
manager for Adult Services, July 2009
• When asked how adult services were supporting Disabled Parents in their
parenting roles, the reply was “ We have to be realistic here due to
budgetary constraints”- Adult Services Manager 20 mins later: “Due to your
disability we're going to turn this into a child protection case”- Child
Services Manager
• “If you continue to ring us up asking for help with your parenting role, we
will have to consider taking your children into care”- Social Worker, January
2009.
• “This situation has never happened to us before, we don't know how to
address it”- The situation was Disabled Parenting! - Head of Health
Improvement in Social Care for Social Services in a Local Authority in the
North West.
• “You could put your children in their Pyjamas when they come home from
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school at 3pm, then you wouldn't need any support in the evenings and
your PA could go after 4pm.”- Social Worker, November 2008
When as asked how they support sight impaired parents a large maternity
responded ‘We don’t have any’.
News
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‘Child carers 'not getting help'
Lawyers acting for two children who are the main carers for their
father have accused a local council of failing to help them.
Essex County Council was told by a High Court judge last week to act
"before further damage is done" and given 21 days to draw up care plans
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/8261561.stm
'You're not intelligent enough to marry', bride told
Social workers banned a young woman from her own wedding in an extraordinary row
over whether she is bright enough to get married.
Kerry Robertson, who has mild learning difficulties, was told her wedding was being
halted just 48 hours before she was to walk up the aisle with fiance Mark McDougall
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212867/Youre-intelligent-marry-bride-told.html
‘Taking Control of your own care’
Thanks to self-directed support, a new method the County Council is using to provide adult social
care, Emma, ….. She has spent some of the social care money she receives to hire a gardener,
giving her husband more time to care for her and their two children. Emma said: "Being in control
of my own support have given me flexibility which I would otherwise not have been able to get.’’
http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9825
Reports & Guidance
A Jigsaw of Services
- Published in April 2000 by the then Social Services Inspectorate was based on
inspections of arrangements for providing support to disabled adults in their parenting
role in eight local council areas. The experience and views of service users and their
carers provided a significant focus for the inspection. The report provides a series of
questions that can be used by councillors and managers to evaluate their own services
and it offers a number of examples of good practice.
The right support
A Task Force on Supporting Disabled Adults in their Parenting Role was set
up by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000, with support from the DoH, the Association of
Directors of Social Services (ADSS), (DPN) and relevant voluntary organisations. This report
highlights the issues raised by the Task Force and put forward recommendations
‘Social services, the NHS and schools working with disabled parents and their children, need to
radically re-think attitudes and procedures that are undermining family life’ Jenny Morris 23 September 2003
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Every Child Matters (ECM) (2003) Aim is to give all children the support they need to:
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be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, achieve economic wellbeing. The Every Child Matters agenda has been further developed through publication of the
Children's Plan in December 2007. It acknowledge the importance of the family and parental
support in a child’s development.
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They said what? - Some common myths about disabled parents and
community care legislation – This booklet (covering England and Wales) is made
up of a series of questions and answers which identify and explain common
misconceptions about the assistance and equipment available to disabled parents to
help them look after their children. Jenny Morris 25 April 2004
Disabled parents and schools:
Barriers to parental involvement in children's education –
This booklet looks at the particular problems disabled parent face as they try to
support their children’s education Jenny Morris 17 June 2004
It Shouldn't be Down to Luck: Results of a DPN consultation with disabled
parents on access to information and services to support parenting - by Wates This
report highlights difficulties experienced by disabled parents in accessing services and
makes recommendations for service providers who are seeking to make their services
more inclusive
SCIE Knowledge review 11: Supporting disabled parents and parents with
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additional support needs Morris & Wates November 2006
Its main focus is on social care, but integral to this are the relationships between
social care and health, housing and education
Analysis of the adults' services policy framework does not facilitate appropriate
responses from those commissioning and delivering services.
An analysis of the children's services policy and legislative framework shows that
despite inter-agency relationships being a key issue within Every child matters, the
importance of adults' and children's services working together to address families’
needs has, to a large extent, been lost.
Family values - Disabled parents, extra costs and the benefit system - Disability
Alliance ' in discussion with DPN’ collected evidence on the extra costs incurred by
disabled parents.
SCIE Guide 19: Working together to support disabled parents
Jenny Morris & Michele Wates August 2007
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How to develop inter-agency protocols to support families in which parents have
additional needs related to physical and/or sensory impairments, learning disabilities,
mental health, drug and alcohol-related problems or serious illnesses
Supporting disabled parents: A family or a fragmented approach?
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This CSCI (2009) report seeks to examine the experiences of disabled parents and
their families and to see how far council policies, services and practice are providing
appropriate support. The findings in this report are taken from a national survey of
50 councils To supplement the national picture, in-depth study workshops of services
were conducted in four council areas. The report finds that many councils do not fully
support disabled parents and their children.
Disabled parents' involvement in their children's education’
Children do better at school when their parents are involved in lots of different ways. (2009)
Support For All: the Families and
Relationships Green Paper
‘Proposals aim to influence factors that
can strengthen or weaken family life, such
as the choices available about balancing
employment with bringing up children;
and how welcoming and accessible public
services are to families of all kinds.
30 of 32.
DPN offers a range of
information, advice and support,
including...
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Support service
Advocacy
Peer Support
Local networks
Speaking & Facilitation
Training
Networking & Campaigning
Charged Services
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Fact sheets
Newsletter
Latest News
Articles & Stories
Website
Discussion Forum
eBulletin
What else do we do?
Support Service
Advocacy Service
Support via telephone and email for
disabled parents, parents-to-be,
professionals and others working
alongside disabled parents.
The advocate is there to take the side of
the person they are representing and is
completely independent of statutory
organisations
Offers:
Advice, information, Peer support,
access to Advocacy Service
 Liaising with Social Services, Education
authorities (schools) and Health authorities
 Supporting people with making complaints
 Information on seeking equipment and
adaptations
0300 3300 639
Monday to Friday
1000hrs – 1600hrs
 Gaining community care assessments and
services
 Challenging decisions and support
packages
Wednesdays
19.00hrs – 2100hrs
e-mail:
e-mail:
information@disabledparentsnetwork.org.uk
advocacy@disabledparentsnetwork.org.uk
Improving services
& support
Disabled Parents Network believes that services and support should
empower and provide disabled parents with the best possible
resources for the task of parenting.
Government –
Advisory
Committees
Research
Projects
Voluntary
Organisations and
Disability Specific
Organisations
Individual
disabled
parents
Health and Social Care
professionals (Midwives,
OT’s, Social Workers, Care
Managers)
Consultation
papers
Local disabled
parenting groups
Media
Helpful
child?
…or “Young
Carer”?
Bridging the gap
between
Disability
&
Parenting
Thank
You
0300 3300 639
www.DisabledParentsNetwork.org.uk