The study findings add to the now critical mass of data showing that parent-child health and well-being is inextricably linked with parental social support. While there is a burgeoning literature on parent training, far less research attention has been given to the development and evaluation of strategies to strengthen parents' social relationships. This is an important direction for future research.

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Caregiver burden is an increasing problem with patients surviving longer and more care tasks falling to informal caregivers. While research has identified patient and caregiver variables associated with caregiver burden, less research has focused on aspects of the care environment. The present study investigated the available support and unmet needs of 57 patients with advanced cancer, 45 of their carers and 40 of their health professionals. Carers and patients consistently identified higher levels of available support for the patient than health care professionals, with carers identifying higher levels of support than patients. Carers also identified more patient unmet needs than health care professionals, who in turn identified more than patients. Surprisingly, available support did not increase over 6 months and there was a tendency for unmet needs to decrease over time. Low available support, high unmet needs and a larger discrepancy between carer and patients' reports of patients' unmet need predicted negative aspects of caregiver burden. These results suggest that health care professionals underestimate available support to patients and both patients and health care professionals underestimate patients' unmet needs in comparison to carers. Carers' reports of patients' unmet needs are important to consider as they were associated with high levels of caregiver burden, including poorer caregiver health. Health care professionals should encourage opportunities for carers to discuss their views of the ongoing needs of patients with advanced cancer.

Background Parents with learning difficulties are known to face a high risk of losing their children. This paper reports findings from a study designed to throw light on the numbers of parents with learning difficulties and their children coming before the Family Courts in Children Act proceedings and what happened to them as a result.Method The paper presents descriptive information on the characteristics of the parents and children, the basis of professional concerns in these cases, and details of the final outcomes and placement decisions extracted from a documentary review of court files. Results Parents with learning difficulties were found to be disproportionately represented in care proceedings and their children were significantly more likely to be freed for adoption than the children of any other group of parents. Conclusions On the basis of the research evidence, parents with learning difficulties appear to be treated more harshly because of their disability, raising the question of the interface between disability discrimination legislation and the Children Act in such cases.

Mothers with learning difficulties are thought to be among the most socially isolated parents in the community. A great deal of attention has been directed to assessing their parenting abilities and teaching parenting skills, but less has been given to the support that mothers may (or may not) receive from family, friends and the service system. The present paper investigates mothers' views about the types of support which they receive and from whom they receive it. Data were derived from 70 mothers who participated in interviews using a support interview guide designed to accommodate the mothers' cognitive difficulties. The primary purpose of the interview was to explore the quantity and composition of the mothers' support networks, the frequency of contact and geographical proximity of support people, and the type of support provided. Key findings include: the central place that family members have in these mothers' lives; the importance of service providers as sources of information and advice; and the relative absence of friends and neighbours. Briefly, mothers living alone have service-centred networks, mothers living with a partner have family-centred networks with relatively dispersed family ties, and mothers living in a parent/parent-figure household have local, family-centred networks. The overall conclusion to be drawn from the present results is that these mothers do not live in a social vacuum, but many are socially isolated. The finding that so few mothers could identify supportive ties with friends and neighbours suggests that these mothers are isolated from their local communities and are potentially vulnerable if a breakdown occurs in the support provided by their families. The need for service providers to be more actively involved in linking mothers to their communities is discussed.