The National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities conducts research and provides training and technical assistance to improve the lives of parents with disabilities and their families. We share our findings here on this website. We also offer information sheets, research briefs, and other resources.
Our resources are for parents with disabilities, legal professionals, social workers, and researchers, and cover a variety of topics, including child-welfare law and its effects on parents with disabilities, firsthand narratives from disabled parents about how they raise their children, and advice for professionals working with specific populations of parents with disabilities.
The Center for Parents recognizes that parents with disabilities know what they need. We are guided by the principle "nothing about us without us."
What's Happening at the Center for Parents
What to Think About Before Having a Baby
What to Think About Before Having a Baby is the first of four videos by the National Center for Disability & Pregnancy Research in its guide for women with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.
Access NCDPR's first video guide
Advocacy & Action at the Intersection of Disability & Reproductive Justice
On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy presented Advocacy & Action at the Intersection of Disability & Reproductive Justice, a conversation between Laurie Bertram Roberts and Rebecca Cokley of the Ford Foundation.
Disabled Parenting within Multigenerational Families
Due to service gaps in home and community-based services and other factors, many adults with disabilities, including those who are parents, may continue to live with their families of origin. Our panelists discussed their experiences and explored the policy implications.
Black, Disabled, Deaf, & Proud
Webinar panelists discussed the intersectionality of their disability identity with their racial identities and what this means for their parenting. Recording and summary now available.
ParentingWell Learning Collaborative
Massachusetts Behavioral Health Providers are participating in the ParentingWell Learning Collaborative
ParentingWell® is an approach to routine practice that makes talking about parenting, children, and family experiences a natural part of the conversation and of an adult’s recovery process.
Upcoming Webinar: Parents and Parenting with Disabilities: Perspectives from Chile
New Brief: Pregnancy Care for Women with Intellectual Disabilities
New Brief: Pregnancy Experiences of D/deaf People
Webinar: Providing Perinatal Care to Expectant Mothers with Physical Disabilities
In this webinar, Lauren Dyer, a parent with a physical disability, shared her lived experience navigating perinatal care and Drs. John Harris and Heidi Leftwich described the reproductive health and perinatal care needs of people with physical disabilities and how we can improve care for this population. Webinar recording available soon.
Our Map Resources
Current U.S. State Legislation Supporting Parents with Disabilities
Despite notable achievements in other areas of disability rights, parents with disabilities continue to encounter significant discrimination. Parents with disabilities are more likely to have their children removed by the child welfare system as well as have their parental rights terminated. Moreover, within the family law system, disabled parents are less likely to gain access to custody or visitation of their children. Finally, prospective parents with disabilities encounter barriers to adopting children or becoming foster parents. While there are many reasons for the pervasive discrimination, it is notable that the child welfare, family law, and adoption systems are largely driven by state statutes.
Go to Interactive Map | Go to Legal Background | Go to Summary of State Legislation
Current U.S. State Laws Terminating Parental Rights on a Basis Including a Parent's Disability
Current laws in many U.S. states include parental disability as grounds for the termination of parental rights. While some states have no laws allowing for parental disabilities as such to be grounds for terminating parental rights, most states have laws permitting this. Our map represents the nine combinations of disabilities that states now allow as grounds for terminating parental rights based on a parent's disability.
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