Nova Scotia court decision on parents with intellectual disabilities concerns advocates

Advocates in Nova Scotia say we need a different way to think about intellectual disabilities, following the recent provincial Court of Appeal decision on parental custody.

Last week, the highest court in the province ruled that two intellectually disabled parents must surrender custody of their children. That ruling overturned an earlier lower court decision.

The appeal court said that the children were at risk because the parents bickered and exposed the children to violence. The court's decision said this "was not likely to change" and the parents have been denied any further contact with their sons, age two and four.

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The implication that the parents can't change troubles Dave Kent, president of People First Nova Scotia, an advocacy group for Nova Scotians with intellectual disabilities.

"It seems like they believe that citizens with intellectual disabilities do not have the ability to grow and learn new skills. People First believes that everyone has those abilities," he told CBC's Information Morning.

Opportunities for remediation denied

The court of appeal had described the parents as presenting socially as young adolescents, but People First doesn't believe in setting a mental age for people with intellectual disabilities, Kent said.

Cindy Carruthers, executive director of People First, said that parents are usually given opportunities to show they've improved, rather than being denied access to their children indefinitely.

"Most parents are given opportunities to seek counseling and remediation," she said. "It's really a question as to why these parents would not be given that opportunity."

In the original decision, Family Court Justice William Dyer emphasized the need for services like counseling before children are taken away from their parents.

A long-standing need

Carruthers said that although those services are scarce in many parts of Nova Scotia, that isn't because the need is a new one.

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"Community Services has been working with parents with intellectual disabilities for well over 20 years," she said.

"We know that because we've had members from different parts of the province who've had children and have had interventions from Community Services. So after all those years of experience there should be experienced staff that can be assigned to this area of need."

Carruthers agreed with Dyer's statement that society may have failed the parents in this case, by not providing the necessary services. 

"Individuals with intellectual disabilities are part of our society and society has a responsibility to them, so when parents are starting off, that's when there should be supports put in place.

'We have the same rights'

Kent, who has an intellectual disability and is a father himself, said by taking children away from their parents, the court has not only denied those parents the opportunity to develop, it's also denied them the chance to learn from their children.

"Some children can [teach] their parents a few new things," he said. "Parents with intellectual disabilities should have the rights to raise their children. We have the same rights as everybody else, and we shouldn't be treated differently than anybody else."