Temporal Discrimination and Parents with Learning Difficulties in the Child Protection System

This article shows how time works against parents with learning difficulties in the child protection system and Children Act proceedings. The prevailing wisdom, embedded in policy and the literature, is that delay in care cases is bad for the child and may jeopardize his or her future. This paper shows how the pressure to avoid delay might itself be harming some families, especially parents with learning difficulties. Drawing on interviews with social work practitioners undertaken as part of a larger study, the authors describe the various forms of temporal discrimination that impact on this group of disabled parents. They conclude that procedural time limits make it harder for parents with learning difficulties to meet the standards and expectations enforced by Children’s Services and the courts.