Citation

Llewellyn G, McConnell D, Ferronato L. Child Abuse Negl. 2003; 27(3): 235-251.

Affiliation

Leisure Sciences, University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12654322

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to obtain sound prevalence and outcomes data on parents with disabilities and their children in statutory child protection proceedings. METHOD: The court files of all care and protection matters initiated by the statutory child protection authority and finalized in a 9-month period (n=285) at two Children's Courts in NSW, Australia were reviewed. RESULTS: Parents with disabilities featured in almost one-third of the cases (29.5%). Parental psychiatric disability was most prevalent at 21.8% followed by parental intellectual disability (mental retardation) at 8.8%. Significant associations were found between parental disability and court outcome with a disproportionately large number of children of parents with intellectual disability being made wards of the state. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate that parents with disabilities are significantly over-represented in statutory child protection proceedings and that the outcomes of these proceedings vary according to disability type.

Language: en