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Disabled parents are often unable to obtain support services because their needs are not included in eligibility criteria, delegates heard last week.

Researcher Michele Wates, who was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to examine social services departments' written protocols on disabled parents told delegates: "We very much hope that in the forthcoming Fair Access to Care Services - the policy guidance of which is out for consultation - social services should include something on the parenting role and tasks within the eligibility criteria in community care services."

She said that only a handful of the country's 150 departments had a set of protocols that focused particularly on disabled parents.

The findings, due to be published early next year, also show that disabled parents are anxious about approaching social services for help, but few measures are taken to address these fears. In over half of the 30 policies and protocols analysed, the intention to support disabled parents was not translated into measures that would be supportive in practice.

Wates said disabled parents were also reluctant to ask social services for help because they did not want their children labelled as children in need.

She added that social services were often too eager to focus on the children of disabled people, while support for their parents often dropped off the agenda.