Last week, Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum joined forces with Worcestershire County Council to co-produce and deliver an impactful training session aimed at building understanding around autism and parental blame. The session, grounded in the research published by West Midlands ADASS, brought together 30 practitioners from across adult and children’s social care services and was delivered by WPCF rep Anne.
As well as being the parent carer to 2 autistic children, Anne also has a background in social work. Despite this professional experience, Anne’s family were not immune to blame before, during and after her children’s diagnoses.
The training was informed by findings from the Blamed Instead of Helped report, a major regional study that highlights how parents of autistic children frequently experience blame when seeking support. The session aimed to help social care professionals better understand this issue and reflect on their own practice.
Practitioners from a wide range of Social Care teams including the Children with Disabilities (CWD) team, Youth and Assessment Team (YAT), Adult Neurodiversity Team, ISCO Team, Inclusion Services, and Outreach took part in the interactive session. Real-life examples of parental blame were shared, and participants engaged with case studies to apply their learning to real-world scenarios.
Feedback from attendees revealed the depth of impact the training had:
“Very powerful presentation. Reminds to look at all options.”
“Really informative and great to reflect on your own cases and how I’ve interacted with families in the past and currently.”
“I have gained a new understanding of the relationship between social work and parent carers.”
“Parents are usually the experts regarding their children.”
“Sadness”, “Eye opener”, “Fulfilling”, “Saddened”
– just some of the single-word reactions that reflect the emotional weight of the topic.
Not only does this session highlight the importance of co-producing and delivering professional learning, it also brought a unique and deeply valuable perspective, helping practitioners understand the lived experiences of families navigating autism diagnosis and support.
The session underscored a key message from the WM-ADASS research: blame, whether explicit or implicit, can cause lasting harm to families, and must be actively challenged in practice. By working collaboratively, local parent carers and professionals can begin to shift the culture from suspicion to support.
This training marks an important step in building more compassionate, informed, and collaborative approaches to working with autistic individuals and their families. Plans are now underway to explore further opportunities for joint learning and reflection across services.
For more information on the research that informed this session, visit:
👉 Autism and Parental Blame Research – WM-ADASS
