Unfit and cast aside
Portrayals of mothering with intellectual disability in Québec court reports
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6784741 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Laura Pacheco (0000-0002-0344-4091, Memorial University of Newfoundland, corresponding author), Rahel More (0000-0002-1616-3731, University of Klagenfurt), Marjorie Aunos (0000-0002-0565-3065, Brock University), Rachelle Rose (McGill University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 322-340 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Discourse Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1740-5904 • E-ISSN: 1740-5912 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17405904.2022.2152063 |
| OpenAlex | W4311298579 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 51 |
Many mothers with intellectual disabilities lose their parental rights due to child welfare (CW) concerns. Despite the growing interdisciplinary scholarship on parenting with intellectual disabilities, there is scant research that has explored the discursive practices embedded within CW or family courts involving mothers with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study is to explore portrayals of mothering with intellectual disability in CW court reports filed in Québec, Canada. A three-level critical discourse analysis was performed, focusing on 10 reports that were retrieved from a publicly available legal database, and their larger discursive societal context. Analysis highlighted unequal power relations as discursive practice underpinned by the following discursive patterns: (1) The ideal caregiver vs the unfit mother (2) Devalued voices of mothers with intellectual disability (3) Professionals as holding authoritative knowledge and (4) Decision-making based on the best interest of the child. Revealing the hidden ideological assumptions embedded in discourse can help to challenge and confront injustice faced by mothers with intellectual disability within the CW system
Aside · Critical discourse analysis · Disability studies · Discourse analysis · Ideology · Injustice · Intellectual disability · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · Child Abuse and Trauma · Disability Rights and Representation · Family and Disability Support Research · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology
Stigma
Discourse and social change
Three Dimensions of Autonomy
Meanings of parenting and dis/ability for mothers and fathers with intellectual disabilities in the context of social work in Austria
Handbook of Discourse Analysis
The Disability Studies Reader
Black Feminist Thought
Contours of Ableism
Voice of the Child Reports in Ontario
Attachment Theory
Constructing Ableism
Expanding Ableism
Imagining the Heart
Understanding ‘Successful Practice/s’ with Parents with Learning Difficulties when there are Concerns about Child Neglect
Changing Perspective
Able or unable
Life histories as counter-narratives against dominant and negative stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities
Stereotypes, parents with intellectual disability and child protection
Performing motherhood in a disablist world
Representations of Women Subjected to Violence
The contemporary state of child protection policy and practice in England and Wales
Parents with intellectual disabilities in the child protection system
Social inequality, ‘the deviant parent’ and child protection practice
Temporal Discrimination and Parents with Learning Difficulties in the Child Protection System
Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis
The devolution of eugenic practices
Rigor, Transparency, Evidence, and Representation in Discourse Analysis
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |