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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Family Strengthening: A collection of promising practices

International Child Development Initiatives & Save the Children International, 01 Aug 2019

The purpose of the review, developed by International Child Development Initiatives, was to present an overview of (as much as possible) evidence-based promising practices in Family Strengthening interventions in Cambodia, implemented by FCF|REACT partners.

Collaborative Alliance of Parent and Child Welfare Caseworker

Tyrone C. Cheng, Celia C. Lo - Child Maltreatment, 30 Jul 2019

This secondary analysis of data describing 3,035 parents, drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II, identified factors fostering the collaborative alliance of parents and caseworkers within the child welfare system.

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Implementation of an Early Preventive Intervention Programme for Child Neglect: SafeCare

Ignacia Arruabarrena, Joaquín de Paul, and María Cañas - Psicothema, 30 Jul 2019

This paper presents the results of the first pilot implementation in Spain of SafeCare, a home visiting evidence-based programme for the prevention and treatment of child neglect in families with children aged 0-5 years old.

Outcome and Cost-Savings Data for Selected Types of Family Support Services: A Summary for Orange County Social Services

Peter J. Pecora and Paul DiLorenzo - Casey Family Programs, 30 Jul 2019

This document from Casey Family Programs reviews data on Family Resource Centers and other family support services in the US.

Patterns of individual change and program satisfaction in a positive parenting program for parents at psychosocial risk

Míriam Álvarez, Sonia Byrne, María José Rodrigo - Child & Family Social Work, 26 Jul 2019

The authors of this study compared individual patterns of change in three parenting outcomes in 256 at risk parents with young children attending the group‐based Growing Up Happily in the Family program delivered in municipal social services.

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Challenges and dilemmas working with high‐conflict families in child protection casework

Cecilie Sudland - Child & Family Social Work, 26 Jul 2019

This article reports on a qualitative study involving 31 social workers and provides an analysis of their experiences and dilemmas in working with families marked by high levels of conflict between separated parents.

Reimagining child welfare outcomes: Learning from Family Group Conferencing

Mary Mitchell - Child & Family Social Work, 26 Jul 2019

This open access article reports on a qualitative study, which sought to retrospectively understand the contribution family group conferencing (FGC) makes to longer‐term outcomes for children at risk of entering State care and their families.

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Family Strengthening: A Collection of Best Practices from Eastern Europe

Sarah de Vos, Bep van Sloten, Mathijs Euwema - Save the Children & International Child Development Initiatives, 24 Jul 2019

The aim of this report from Save the Children is to provide policymakers, service-providing organizations and child protection practitioners and child rights advocates with an easy to use reference document, to augment the implementation of support programmes for children and families in vulnerable circumstances.

Designing an evidence-based intervention for parents involved with child welfare

Laura Orlando, Susan Barkan, Kathryn Brennan - Children and Youth Services Review, 24 Jul 2019

In this paper, the authors describe a process used to inform the development of a parenting intervention that would have high relevance to child welfare involved parents and could then work towards proving its effectiveness.

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Services Received vs Services Needed by Families in Child Welfare Systems

Mary I. Armstrong, Melissa Hope Johnson, John Robst, Areana Cruz, Monica Landers, Amy Vargo - International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice, 24 Jul 2019

This article compares and contrasts the services needed by families in child welfare systems with the services that families receive.

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