Parenting Support

Families will require support when faced with problems they are unable to overcome on their own. Ideally support should come from existing networks, such as extended family, religious leaders, and neighbours. Where such support is not available or sufficient, additional family and community services are required. Such services are particularly important for kinship, foster and adoptive caretakers, and child headed households in order to prevent separation and address abuse and exploitation of children. It is also vital for children affected by HIV/AIDS and armed conflict, and those children living on the street.

Displaying 1 - 10 of 960

Joyce Wamoyi, Mackenzie Martin, Yulia Shenderovich, et al.,

This study explores the large-scale implementation of the Parenting for Lifelong Health for Teens (PLH-Teens) program in Tanzania, examining implementers’ experiences in delivering a parenting intervention to over 75,000 beneficiaries in a low-resource setting. It finds that while scaling evidence-based programs to reduce violence against children is feasible, long-term success depends on government support, strong local engagement, and addressing practical challenges to sustain implementation at scale.

UNICEF Innocenti,

This brief presents findings from a global mapping of parenting programmes that aim to prevent violence against children and against women while advancing gender equality. It offers practical guidance for policymakers, programme designers, and implementers on how to develop, scale, and strengthen parenting interventions that promote safer, more equitable family environments.

Global Parenting Initative,

Parents living through conflict, displacement, and humanitarian crises faced extraordinary pressures that affected both their own wellbeing and their children’s development. This Global Parenting Initiative webinar brought together global and field-level perspectives to explore how parenting and psychosocial support could be better aligned within humanitarian systems.

Jamie Ussher, Sarah Whitcombe-Dobbs, and Michael Tarren-Sweeney,

This article explores the parenting support needs of young mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand who grew up in out-of-home care, highlighting how their childhood experiences shape their access to and perceptions of support. It finds that these mothers face significant barriers and fears in engaging with services, underscoring the need for specialized, independent parenting support as part of after-care.

UNICEF,

In 2025, UNICEF and UNFPA conducted a national review of parenting programmes in Moldova to assess their role in addressing violence against children and women and to inform more effective, gender-transformative interventions. The study provides evidence to support the development of a Theory of Change and evaluation framework for strengthening prevention efforts.

Marina Lalayants and Vanassa Bishop,

This article explores how well parent advocacy training programs prepare advocates for their roles in the child welfare system, drawing on perspectives from advocates, parents, and child protective services workers. It finds that while foundational training is valuable, more comprehensive, experiential, and collaborative approaches—especially in areas like legal knowledge, mental health, and system navigation—are needed to better equip advocates and strengthen family engagement outcomes.

UNICEF,

Această evaluare națională examinează contextul, calitatea și eficacitatea programelor de educație parentală pentru îngrijitori din Republica Moldova dintr-o perspectivă transformatoare de gen, cu un accent deosebit pe contribuția lor la prevenire

IACN Secretariat,

In this webinar, speakers shared the principles, practices, and innovative initiatives in family strengthening across the East and North-Eastern regions of India. Speakers reflected on evolving family vulnerabilities, the role of family-based care in care reform, and what it truly takes to embed family-strengthening principles into everyday practice.

Laloyo Stella Apecu, and Ndaru Zabibu,

This qualitative case study in Arua City, Uganda, explores how parenting practices contribute to the persistence of street children, drawing on interviews with 30 street-connected children as well as parents and community leaders. Findings show that poverty, neglect, abuse, weak supervision, and family breakdown—combined with push factors like hunger and domestic violence and pull factors such as peer networks and perceived economic opportunity—drive children to the streets, underscoring the need for strengthened family support, community protection systems, and parental economic empowerment.

Uniting Vic. Tas,

This evaluation of Uniting Vic.Tas’ Family Preservation and Reunification (FPR) Program in Australia found that intensive, in-home support helps families stay safely together, especially when practitioners build trusting relationships and provide both practical and emotional support. The study also identified opportunities to strengthen the program, including longer engagement periods, greater continuity with practitioners, and follow-up support after families exit the program.