If we know what works, why aren't we doing it?

High rates of child removal from parents with learning disabilities are an urgent social policy issue. The authors used co-operative inquiry to explore why so little progress has been made to keep children with their parents with learning disabilities despite evidence that, with support, they can and do learn to be safe caregivers. The commentary reports on the use of a social policy analysis approach developed by Bacchi called ‘What is the problem represented to be?’. This approach was used to structure an analysis of underlying social attitudes towards parents with learning disabilities and how these attitudes underpin child welfare policies and practices. The authors show how concepts such as parenting capacity reinforce negative beliefs and assumptions about these parents as incapable and unable to learn. Need and risk assessments are weaponised to show that support needs are an individual failing and too high, which justifies systemic failures. The commentary concludes with two examples of practice approaches that are consistent with a social model of child protection: the Six T’s and the Three Pillars of Engagement. The values that are embedded in these enable a genuinely rights-based, ethical care accessible to all.