Supporting future parents

This site is about counseling people with an intellectual disability who want to have a child, or who already are fathers or mothers.

People have desires

Everyone has desires: good health, happiness, many friends, love, money, a job, a house, a family, a child... The same is true for people with an intellectual disability.
However, when people with an intellectual disability say that they would like to have a child, all sorts of alarm bells go off. Either consciously or unconsciously, we send the message: 'Don’t do it!' This causes the potential future parents to turn away from professional support. Whereas, there is evidence that parents with an intellectual disability are often successful parents if they dare to request that support and receive the proper support on time.

Talking about a desire to have a child and parenthood

ASVZ wants people with intellectual disabilities to lead equitable, meaningful lives. Encouraging discussion about the desire to have a child and parenthood should accompany that. Even more so, it is our obligation to engage in discussion with clients and to counsel them as effectively as possible concerning their parenthood or their questions regarding that. Although, how do you do that in a respectful way? How do you ensure that clients know what this involves, about what is in store for them, and about all the additional things that they must do if they are going to raise a child or children? On this website you will find advice and a toolkit, free of charge, with tools that help people with an intellectual disability, their parents, and their care workers all engage in conversation about their desire to have a child and be parents.