Moving towards integration of services for parents with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Parents with intellectual disabilities, like all parents, require suitable services and support in order to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of themselves and of their children. Substantial clinical and empirical literature now exist documenting the degree to which these parents can be successful when supports and services are matched to their learning characteristics, living environments, and communities. However, despite the documentation of need and the evidence of success, suitable supports for these families continue to be limited, fragmented, and uncertain. Absent any effective personal political voice, governmental, professional, and private organizations largely have ignored the need to ensure an evenness of supports for these parents. Another major difficulty has been the absence of demonstrations for successful integration of services. Since the lack of interest by government and by others means the absence of funds to examine new integrative program models, parents have been faced with a progressive down-ward cycle. The present paper describes the rationale for integration of supports and services for parents with intellectual disabilities and the steps taken in planning for the development of one model that is currently being evaluated. Implications from this process are presented.