Councils are failing to offer adequate support to disabled
parents, with many people falling into the "gap" between adult and
children's services, according to a survey by the Commission for
Social Care Inspection.
While councils have responsibilities to support disabled parents
with children and assist their children who care for them, few were
able to join up policies effectively, the survey of 50 English
authorities found.
Two-thirds of councils admitted that their policies focused
separately on adults' and children's issues, leading to disputes
over resources and lack of communication between frontline
staff.
Information gap
CSCI also found that just 17% of councils collected any
information about disabled parents and their families living in
their area so could not plan services appropriately.
And only one-third had developed any kind of joint protocol to
ensure shared understanding of roles and responsibilities between
the council and partner agencies.
The inspectorate concluded that while personalisation and
policies to ensure a family approach offered a chance to address
the problems, implementation was slow.
CSCI raised particular concern over poor assessments of the
needs of disabled parents and their families, meaning some did not
always qualify for personal budgets or other publicly-funded
support. Many councils were found to be "over-reliant" on members
of the family to provide help, many of whom were children.
Minority with family-focused policies
A minority of councils - 12% - were found to have clear
family-focused policies or joint protocols but such practice was
not consistent across the country.
CSCI chair Dame Denise Platt urged all councils to ensure that
adults' and children's services worked closely together to ensure
that no child or disabled parent fell "through the gap" in
services.
"If councils cannot understand and provide the support needed by
these families, they will be unable to sustain accessible and
inclusive communities where disabled parents and their children
enjoy the same quality of life as other families," she said.
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