‘Parents of at-risk children need more help’

Councils are failing to do enough to support parents of children at risk, a Commission for Social Care Inspection report published this week says.

It warns that “too often” services focus only on the need to protect children rather than sort out the causes of the problems, such as parental mental illness or substance misuse. It also identifies inadequate support for disabled parents.

The report states that eligibility criteria for adults’ services need to be reviewed to ensure parents receive help before they reach crisis point. It also calls for the commissioning of children’s services to be aligned with the commissioning of relevant adult services.