IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlawss/v12y2023i2p30-d1101477.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Alleged Disabilities”: The Evolving Tactics of Child Protection in a Disability Rights Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir

    (School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavík, Iceland)

  • James Gordon Rice

    (School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavík, Iceland)

Abstract

This contribution reports on a child protection case concerning the removal of a child from the custody of a parent with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Iceland. Employing a mix of document analysis and interviewing, the results demonstrated two key themes forming the analysis: One is the aura of professionalism. A careful examination of the working methods reveals a continuation of the poor practices typical of the past, despite the claims made that specialised support for persons with disabilities has been tried and was not successful. The second analytical theme is alleged disabilities. This case provided evidence of a previously unseen tactic, to the best of our knowledge, by which a parent’s disability status was called into question. The argument offered herein is that this was pursued to sidestep the protections afforded to disabled parents under Icelandic law in recent years. We conclude by arguing that the combination of a heighted awareness of these legal protections and a greater scrutiny as to how these cases are worked appears to have led to a series of evolving tactics that are employed against disabled parents in an enhanced disability rights environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir & James Gordon Rice, 2023. "“Alleged Disabilities”: The Evolving Tactics of Child Protection in a Disability Rights Environment," Laws, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-15, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:30-:d:1101477
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/12/2/30/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/12/2/30/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laufey Löve & Rannveig Traustadóttir & Gerard Quinn & James Rice, 2017. "The Inclusion of the Lived Experience of Disability in Policymaking," Laws, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Lightfoot, Elizabeth & Laliberte, Traci & Cho, Minhae, 2017. "A case record review of termination of parental rights cases involving parents with a disability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 399-407.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laufey Löve & Rannveig Traustadóttir & James Rice, 2019. "Shifting the Balance of Power: The Strategic Use of the CRPD by Disabled People’s Organizations in Securing ‘a Seat at the Table’," Laws, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir & James G. Rice, 2018. "‘Evidence’ of Neglect as a Form of Structural Violence: Parents with Intellectual Disabilities and Custody Deprivation," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 66-73.
    3. James Gordon Rice & Helga Baldvins Bjargardóttir & Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir, 2020. "Child Protection, Disability and Obstetric Violence: Three Case Studies from Iceland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Joanne McVeigh & Malcolm MacLachlan & Delia Ferri & Hasheem Mannan, 2021. "Strengthening the Participation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in the Decision-Making of National Government and the United Nations: Further Analyses of the International Disability All," Disabilities, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-16, August.
    5. DeZelar, Sharyn & Lightfoot, Elizabeth, 2020. "Who refers parents with intellectual disabilities to the child welfare system? An analysis of referral sources and substantiation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:30-:d:1101477. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.