We’ve been able to help a number of adult with learning difficulties learn parenting skills over the last three years, but there is some uncertainty over the future of the project as our current funding comes to a close.
National Lottery cash has enabled the Parenting Pathways programme to offer help to vulnerable adults in the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering for the last three years, but unless more funding is forthcoming, there may be no more help for some of the most disadvantaged members of the community.
The programme has been run since 2015. We have applied for further funding from the National Lottery, but we have yet to find out if our bid has been successful.
In the three years since it began, Parenting Pathways has enabled around thirty families to enhance their parenting capacity and to keep their children, despite initially facing a Child Protection Order. The advantages of such a success rate are enormous and not just in human and emotional terms. It is estimated that each child in care costs the local authority responsible around £42,000 in care costs, so our success rate has saved the taxpayer over £1.5m.
However, the social and emotional success of the project can’t be measured on a balance sheet. Put simply, the project has delivered life changing results. While many people understand the physical and emotional needs of a tiny baby, in many cases, adults with LD need additional guidance to enable them to develop these skills.
Prior to the introduction of Parenting Pathways, there had been a gap in support for expectant parents with a learning difficulty in East London, especially those who were already facing the removal of a child or who had already faced having a child removed. In almost every case, parents who had faced losing a child or had guardianship orders being imposed upon them had no prior opportunity to learn how to parent or to develop the skills required at a level they can relate to.
Thanks to the Trust, numerous families have been spared the heartache of having a child placed into care. Sycamore’s Jean Rayner said, “we work with some of the most vulnerable members of society. Some of these young mums have no idea how to care for a new baby and they are often receiving no help from partners or family”
Unless new funding is forthcoming, mothers with learning difficulties could face a struggle to keep their children.