Parenting Guidelines
People with learning disabilities are full and equal citizens who have the same rights as everyone else and this includes the right to a family life. In 2009 SCLD published Scottish Good Practice Guidelines for Supporting Parents With Learning Disabilities. You can read the guidelines in full here...
An easy read copy of the guidelines can be read here...
These guidelines were written for 3 reasons:
- To keep the children of parents with learning disabilities with their families and to be safe and well
- To help services give good support to these families
- To help keep these families together
Section 1 details support for parents with learning disabilities and identifies 5 key points of good practice. They are:
- Communicating with parents in a way that is clear and easy to understand
- Services working well together
- Providing good support based on what people can do and where they need support to do things
- Giving long term support to parents
- Parents being able to get independent advocacy
Section 2 details good practice when there are concerns about a child’s safety
Section 3 identifies good practice for developing services for families.
The guidelines are based on laws and policies that apply in Scotland. Throughout them there are examples of good practice, from both Scotland and England. We have put all of these examples together in one place. To read them please visit our 'Parenting Good Practice Examples' page here...
At the back of the guidelines you will also find:
- A definition of learning disability, taken from the Same as you?
- A summary of research that has been carried out on what support works
- An overview of laws and policies that apply in Scotland
- A resource list