Parents with learning difficulties, care proceedings and the family courts: threshold decisions and the moral matrix [2004] CFLQ 409

This paper explores the views of legal practitioners about the working of Children Act 1989 proceedings and the family court process in cases involving parents with learning difficulties, drawing on the findings of a 2-year investigation funded by The Nuffield Foundation. The driving purpose of this study was to investigate how social services and the courts handle child protection cases involving parents with learning difficulties and to explore the factors that are weighed in the balance when decisions are made about the best interests of children from such families.