Neurodivergence in the Family Courts Series: Learning Difficulties, Learning Disability and Compounded Vulnerability
Some parents involved in family court proceedings have additional learning difficulties or a learning disability, sometimes alongside neurodivergence, mental health difficulties or trauma. This article explores why careful psychological understanding of these intersecting factors is essential to accurately assessing parenting capacity and safeguarding children.
Family court proceedings often involve families with complex and overlapping needs. Some parents may have learning difficulties or a learning disability and these may coexist with neurodivergence, mental health difficulties, trauma histories or social adversity. When these factors intersect, the risk of misunderstanding increases, particularly if assessments focus on surface behaviour rather than underlying capacity and context.
Understanding Differences
It is important to distinguish clearly between learning difficulties and learning disability. Learning difficulties, such as difficulties with literacy, numeracy or processing speed, may affect how information is understood and applied, particularly under pressure. Learning disability involves more global and enduring differences in intellectual functioning and adaptive functioning skills. Both are distinct from autism and ADHD, although they can and do co-occur.
When parents have learning difficulties or a learning disability, they may find it harder to process complex information, retain guidance over time or apply learning flexibly in changing situations. In the context of parenting (and especially within the stress of child protection proceedings), these demands can become overwhelming. Expectations placed on parents may inadvertently exceed their cognitive or processing capacity, particularly if information is delivered quickly, abstractly or without adaptation.
Children's Needs
From a child protection perspective, what matters is how parenting is experienced by the child over time. Children rely on consistency, predictability, emotional availability and clear guidance to support their development and sense of safety. Where parents struggle in these areas, it is essential to understand why and whether those difficulties reflect fixed limitations, unmet support needs, or unrealistic expectations placed on the parent.
Crucially, parenting capacity is not static. With the right support, many parents with learning difficulties or a learning disability can strengthen their capacity to meet their child’s needs. Support may include clear and accessible communication, repetition, visual or practical modelling and reasonable adjustments that reduce cognitive load. When such adaptations are absent, parenting capacity may be underestimated, and parents may be judged against standards that do not take their needs into account.
Interacting Factors
The intersection of learning needs with neurodivergence, trauma or mental health difficulties can create compounded vulnerability. Stress, fear and uncertainty, which are all common in family court contexts, can further impair processing, regulation and problem-solving. Without careful psychological assessment, these interactions can be missed, leading either to overestimation of risk or to missed opportunities for targeted support that could improve outcomes for children.
Thorough psychological assessment plays a key role in navigating this complexity. It helps to clarify a parent’s cognitive strengths and limitations, how these interact with emotional and environmental factors, and what forms of support are realistic and effective. This allows recommendations to be grounded in what is actually possible for the parent, rather than what is theoretically expected.
Learning difficulties or learning disability do not, in themselves, determine parenting capacity. However, when they intersect with other vulnerabilities, they must be understood with care and precision. Accurate, formulation-led assessment supports proportionate safeguarding decisions and ensures that children’s needs are met through clarity, fairness and appropriate support, rather than assumption or oversimplification.
