For many parent carers of PDAers, sadly, none of this will feel like news. It’s something we hear about again and again, and something we’ve spoken about regularly as an organisation. We also genuinely believe that so much of this trauma is avoidable.
Families should be able to ask for help for their children in the confidence that services won’t make things worse. They should be able to have their child assessed and their needs met without intrusive and upsetting accusations, and without being put through safeguarding procedures for simply trying to get their disabled child’s needs met.
At the PDA Society, we are committed to doing what we can to minimise systems-generated trauma – not least because we know that everyone touched by those systems can experience the traumatic effects, including the professionals working within them.
We are fortunate to work with many committed professionals who want to make things better for families. This is a shared aim we can all hold on to, and we’re excited to work on it together.
If you want to help professionals understand how to work with families of PDAers in ways that avoid harm – and the trauma that blame causes – and instead support families to stay strong and able to meet their children’s needs, you might be interested in a project our Participation and Networks Coordinator has been running for several months with a group of parents who have lived experience of this.
We’ve now moved from the “thinking” stage into the “doing” stage of this project. Together, the parents involved are exploring what training and support materials they can create to help professionals:
- understand how working with a system that judges their parenting instead of offering help feels
- adapt their practice to make life easier for parents
- build more collegiate, cooperative relationships between families and professionals
The aim is for everyone to have a better experience – both of parenting and of working with families.
If you’re interested in getting involved or finding out more, please contact Lorna Parle at lorna.parle@pdasociety.org.uk.