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By Richard Olsen and Michele Wates.
Research in Practice 
ISBN 0954256247
£10    

This pamphlet is essential reading for those working in services supporting families with children. A cogent and concise review of research and policy literature, it aims to help agencies work effectively and flexibly together to provide holistic support for disabled parents and their children. 

The review challenges traditional research, asserting that agencies have based policy and practice on inaccurate assumptions about the lives of disabled parents. This led to a focus on individual rather than social, environmental and economic challenges facing disabled parents and their omission from service design and evaluation. 

Olsen and Wates advocate raising the status of participatory research where disabled parents themselves set the research agenda and bring their findings to policy makers. Perhaps, then, what makes disabled adults successful parents will underpin future services. 

They also bring the "young carer" debate up to date, indicating ways forward that maintain the rights of both parents and children. 

The review concludes with a comprehensive checklist for good practice and an index of references accessibly grouped under headings. 

Christine Wilson is a disabled parent and a disability equality consultant.