Social services departments should do more to support disabled parents rather than automatically invoke children-in-need procedures, a new study by the National Family and Parenting Institute says.

The survey of 52 disabled parents found that they value flexible support which helps them to retain parental control and choice.

But a review of four local authorities' policies found instances of disabled parents being passed between adult and child teams and failing to meet the criteria for either.

Supporting Disabled Adults as Parents from www.nfpi.org