In January 2025 SNS and the Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign contributed evidence to the Law Commissionon on disabled children and social services. Our evidence here showed how disabled children are not only more likely to be taken into “care” but that their mothers are targets for parental blame such as Fabricated Induced illness (FII).

On 15 September 2025 the Disabled Children’s Social Care: Final Report was presented to Parliament – we are quoted twice in the report below:

“Some parents and carers we heard from during the consultation were also concerned about having a needs assessment for fear of being blamed or judged. For example, the Disabled Mothers’ Rights Campaign & Support Not Separation said that “mothers don’t ask for assessments as they know they will be judged” and shared that its network:
[…] overwhelmingly reported that they wished they had never asked for help,
because of the devastating consequences for their families. Nearly all were
met with child protection or family court, they have been labelled anxious,
accused of fabricated or induced illness and/or of just wanting benefits.
Consequently, their children did not receive the care or support they needed.
All felt their mental health had been negatively impacted during the course of
being assessed.“

The report also notes: “120 consultees responded to our proposal that children, who have the ability to do so, should be allowed to make the decisions…….Some consultees,[Such as the Disabled Mothers Rights Campaign & Support Not Separation] whilst agreeing with our proposal, sought to emphasise that it should not be used to exclude “a mother or carer’s point of view, particularly as she will be concerned about the needs of the whole family”.

Please see the full report below. There are 40 recommendations (see page 194) which if adopted would help improve the current situation. For example:

• Recomendation 1 says ‘There should be a single duty to assess the social care needs of the parent or carer for a disabled child.’ At present when a parent requests this it is denied and social workers assume the mum cannot cope and therefore the child is not safe.
• Revomendation 4 says ‘Decision-making in relation to the social care needs of disabled children should be based upon: the importance of promoting the upbringing of the child by the child’s family, in so far as doing so is consistent with promoting the best interests of the child.’