New Research from Prof. Augsberger Calls for Specialized Support for Mothers with Low Intellectual Functioning
Mothers with low intellectual functioning, or intellectual disabilities, are twice as likely to experience child welfare involvement compared to non-disabled mothers. A new study by Prof. Astraea Augsberger from BU School of Social Work and her colleague Wendy Zeitlin from Montclair State University explore this connection to better understand the causes of this welfare involvement and identify community alternatives to better support mothers with intellectual disabilities.
“Children of parents with intellectual disability are at high risk of removal from their family, placement in foster care, and termination of parental rights,” says Prof. Augsberger. “These traumatic experiences can result in long-term negative child outcomes in physical and mental health.”
The study is one of the first in the field to specifically consider these parents and their experience with child welfare, even if they have not received a formal disability diagnosis. “The findings show the need for a more robust safety net for children and families of parents with intellectual disability living in poverty,” Prof. Augsberger adds, “They also build evidence for my broader research program for specialized parenting interventions that prevent family separation.” This is especially relevant in the United States, where many parents with low intellectual functioning do not receive specialized support around parenting.
The authors analyzed secondary data from a study that interviewed families on parenting, health, and other factors affecting child well-being. Most of the participants in the study were low income, or Black and/or Hispanic. “Nearly all mothers with child welfare involvement were living in extreme poverty (97.94%), and the only mothers not living in poverty had never had child welfare involvement,” the researchers stated. This trend suggests that addressing poverty first could decrease the likelihood of unnecessary child welfare involvement. “Additionally, we found that all the mothers who had child welfare involvement were Black. This supports prior research that demonstrates the disproportionate involvement of Black families in child welfare.”
Augsberger and Zeitlin state that future research should aim to reduce child welfare involvement for mothers with low intellectual functioning. This could include reducing over-surveillance of parents, increasing access to holistic social programs for parents facing poverty, and increasing the role of other family and community members to reduce child welfare involvement. The researchers state, “Our findings suggest the need to identify targeted supports that are responsive to the unique needs of mothers with low intellectual functioning in order to avoid child welfare involvement in the first place.”