Supporting parents with learning difficulties: if we know what works why aren’t we doing it?

At the BASW UK conference in June 2025 an international team of researchers from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Australia delivered BASW’s Kay McDougall Prize Lecture, presenting their award winning article from BJSW: ‘If we know what works, why aren’t we doing it?’ https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/54/6/2808/7685501

In this session, two members of the researhc team will reprise their conference presentation for the benefit of all BASW members.

Beth Terleton (University of Bristol) and Gillian McIntrye (University of Strathclyde) will review the evidence that shows that ‘high rates of child removal from parents with learning disabilities persist despite substantial evidence that parents with learning disabilities can provide their children with satisfactory care given appropriate support’ and explore how ‘for outcomes to change for parents with learning disabilities and their children’, practice needs to change by implementing ‘a social model of child protection that addresses attitudinal and structural barriers and is based on principles of interdependence, relationality, and ethics of care.’

The session will end with an open discussion and an opportunity to question the researchers and explore some areas of good practice they identified.