‘Framed’: Terminating the Parenting Rights of Parents with Intellectual Disability in Iceland

Background The aim was to investigate the role of measured intellectual function in framing parents as ‘unfit’ in child custody deprivation cases. Method Grounded theory was used to analyse a national sample of custody deprivation cases in Iceland 2002–2014. Results The terminology used to evaluate and describe the intellectual and developmental status of parents in child deprivation custody cases served as a device to define and shape the ‘unfit parent’. Intellect itself, whether as low, average or even above average at times acts as a master narrative which informs and explains all manner of perceived parental deficiencies. Conclusion The intellectual and developmental status served as a yardstick of identifying, understanding and interpreting the unfit parent. As a tool to achieve an end, parents were framed in language and culture using underlying belief set to make sense of events and issues.