Intelligence and education do not guarantee good parenting, a senior High Court judge has said.
Clever
people can make ‘absolutely rotten parents’ and many who fail
academically give their children a ‘wonderful upbringing’, Mrs Justice
Parker added.
Mrs Justice Parker, who sits in the
Family Division of the High Court in London, suggested that 'book
learning' was no guarantee of parental success
In 2006
researchers from Bristol University found social workers had negative
attitudes towards parents with learning disabilities – and sometimes
broke up loving families with no good reason.
Mrs
Justice Parker’s warning against assuming the best-educated will make
the best parents came during a custody hearing involving a mother with a
learning disability.
The judge said: ‘Learning disability is not in
itself a reason for a parent not looking after a child.
‘Many
clever people make absolutely rotten parents and many people who are
intellectually impaired … are warm and caring and provide children with a
wonderful upbringing. No one is a perfect parent.’
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