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.

Parenting support services are typically provided by social and community paraprofessionals. They focus on the individual needs of a child or family, in order to address and overcome issues which may lead to family separation or harm to the child. Such services should be provided within the context of case planning, beginning with an assessment of the child and family situation. By assessing the need first, an appropriate set of services can be offered, such as day care provision, parenting support, household economic strengthening, or psychosocial referral.

Day care services are particularly important for caretakers who are overwhelmed as a result of ill health, cannot provide adaquate care because they need to work, or who are isolated within the community. It provides an excellent opportunity for children to socialise with others, and can offer additional protection and education.

Parenting support provides caretakers with an opportunity to talk about their difficulties, and learn additional techniques for meeting their child’s developmental and relationship needs. It can enable caretakers to cope with behavioural problems, and address abusive parenting techniques, thereby reducing the need for family separation and improving the incidence of successful family reunification.

The literature in this section contains information on family support programmes for vulnerable children, including day care and parenting support.

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Country Care Review: Australia

Better Care Network, 01 Nov 2019

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Jumping Through Hoops: Families’ Experiences of Pre-birth Child Protection

Ariane Critchley - Families in Motion: Ebbing and Flowing through Space and Time, 25 Oct 2019

This chapter focusses on the experiences of expectant parents in Scotland of navigating the child protection involvement with their as yet unborn infant.

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An Exploration of Mothers' Successful Completion of Family‐Centered Residential Substance Use Treatment

Jessica L. Chou, Shannon Cooper‐Sadlo, Rachel M. Diamond, Bertranna A. Muruthi, Sara Beeler‐Stinn - Family Process, 16 Oct 2019

This study explored the construct of mothering children during family‐centered substance use treatment using a transcendental phenomenological approach.

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Parenting Interventions for Mothers With Problematic Substance Use: A Systematic Review of Research and Community Practice

Karen Milligan, Tamara Meixner, Monique Tremblay, Lesley A. Tarasoff, Amelia Usher, Ainsley Smith, Alison Niccols, Karen A. Urbanoski - Child Maltreatment, 14 Oct 2019

The authors of this study systematically compared parenting interventions offered in 12 maternal substance use treatment programs in one Canadian province with those described in the research literature.

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Recognising the caring capabilities of birth families of removed children: Towards a critical policy agenda

Karen Healy - Critical Social Policy, 03 Oct 2019

In this article, the authors analyse how interventions of the State may undermine, rather than activate, the caring capabilities of vulnerable families across the life course, drawing on examples from Australia, England and the USA.

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Stories Less Told: Parenting Strengths and Family-of-Origin Experiences amongst Parents Involved with Child Protective Services

Hana Yoo, Kelsey Abiera - The British Journal of Social Work, 03 Oct 2019

Based on semi-structured interviews with parents involved with child protective services (CPS), this study explored these parents’ self-identified parenting strengths in light of their family-of-origin experiences.

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Country Care Review: El Salvador

Better Care Network, 01 Oct 2019

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as part of its examination of El Salvador's initial reports, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

Country Care Review: Albania

Better Care Network , 25 Sep 2019

This country care review includes the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committees' recommendations on the issue of Family Environment and Alternative Care, and other care relevant issues, are highlighted.

Family Resource Center System Development Funder Continuum

National Family Support Network, 24 Sep 2019

This guide from the National Family Support Network provides a brief outline of suggested steps for funders to invest in Family Resource Centers, including resources from the National Family Support Network for each step.

Country Care Review: Kuwait

Better Care Network, 20 Sep 2019

This country care review includes the Concluding Observations for the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted as part of their examinations of Kuwait’s periodic reports.