Mothering with a disability is socially and culturally constructed; however, there is little research that has explored the experiences of mothers with intellectual disabilities from ethnocultural communities. This chapter examines the ways in which dominant and community culture shape the life story of Maria, a mother with an intellectual disability from an ethnocultural community in Canada that emerged from a larger narrative study. Implications for ethical and socially just praxis are discussed.

Many mothers with intellectual disabilities lose their parental rights due to child welfare (CW) concerns. Despite the growing interdisciplinary scholarship on parenting with intellectual disabilities, there is scant research that has explored the discursive practices embedded within CW or family courts involving mothers with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study is to explore portrayals of mothering with intellectual disability in CW court reports filed in Québec, Canada. A three-level critical discourse analysis was performed, focusing on 10 reports that were (...) retrieved from a publicly available legal database, and their larger discursive societal context. Analysis highlighted unequal power relations as discursive practice underpinned by the following discursive patterns: (1) The ideal caregiver vs the unfit mother (2) Devalued voices of mothers with intellectual disability (3) Professionals as holding authoritative knowledge and (4) Decision-making based on the best interest of the child. Revealing the hidden ideological assumptions embedded in discourse can help to challenge and confront injustice faced by mothers with intellectual disability within the CW system. (shrink)

Parents with intellectual disabilities are often subject to child protection interventions. The research shows that cases involving a parent with an intellectual disability will most likely end up in child welfare court. For many of these families, parenting capacity assessments are often requested to make decisions involving the best interest of the child/ren. Given the weight of parenting capacity assessments within the child welfare decision-making process, it is imperative to use a parenting model specific to the needs of parents with (...) intellectual disabilities. The following chapter explores Feldman’s contextual parenting model that outlines the personal and environmental variables that impact parenting and provides a protocol for evidence-based assessment and intervention. (shrink)