Growing Up With Parents Who Have Learning Difficulties

This book is about how children from families with learning difficulties fare as adults. It discusses the idea that parental competence is a social attribute, not an individual skill, and how this affects how children are treated in institutions. The book also discusses the idea that children have to parent their disabled parents, and argues for a shift in emphasis from protecting children to supporting families.

Observing children under pressure reveals the extent of their resilience. Studying parents on the margins of competence provides new insights into the limits of parental adequacy. This book uses a life-story approach to present new evidence about how children from such families manage the transition to adulthood, and about the longer-term outcomes of such an upbringing. It offers a view of parental competence as a social attribute rather than an individual skill, assessing the implications for institutional policies and practices. The authors address the notion of children having to parent their disabled parents and argue for a shift in emphasis from protecting children to supporting families. The book demonstrates the power of narrative research and its capacity for bringing alive people's experience in a way that enables us to better understand their lives. It should be of particular interest to professionals and academics working with people who have learning difficulties.