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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Redesigning the workplace to be family-friendly: What governments and businesses can do

UNICEF, 01 Jul 2019

This collection of resources from UNICEF includes a call to action, policy brief, and evidence briefs focused on investing in family-friendly policies in the workplace.

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Twenty first century contact: young people in care and their use of mobile communication devices and the Internet for contact

Jennifer Eyvonne Simpson - Edinburgh Research Archive, 01 Jul 2019

This thesis paper explores (1) how children in care in the UK are making use of mobile communication devices for contact with members of their familial and friendship networks; (2) to what extent devices like the smartphone, tablets and computers either improve or hinder communication; and (3) how contact using mobile communication devices and Internet is being managed by foster carers and social workers.

Model Practices for Parents in Prisons and Jails: Reducing Barriers to Family Connections

Bryce Peterson, Jocelyn Fontaine, Lindsey Cramer, Arielle Reisman, Hilary Cuthrell, Margaret Goff, Evelyn McCoy, and Travis Reginal - Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), 01 Jul 2019

The objective of this document, developed by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), in collaboration with the Urban Institute and Community Works West, is to detail a set of practices that correctional administrators in the United States can implement to remove barriers that inhibit children from cultivating or maintaining relationships with their incarcerated parents during and immediately after incarceration.

Country Care Review: Malta

Better Care Network , 26 Jun 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.

Do place-based programs, such as Family Resource Centers, reduce risk of child maltreatment and entry into foster care?

Casey Family Programs, 20 Jun 2019

This issue brief addresses the following questions: What are family resource centers? What are the defining characteristics of a family resource center? What do we know about the effectiveness of family resource centers in reducing child welfare involvement? What is the return on investment? What is missing from the research literature?

Do place-based programs, such as Family Resource Centers, reduce risk of child maltreatment and entry into foster care?

Casey Family Programs, 20 Jun 2019

This issue brief describes family resource centers, their defining characteristics, and what is known about their effectiveness in reducing child welfare involvement. The brief also discusses return on investment and what is missing from the research literature.

Video: Family Strengthening Intervention for Early Childhood Development

Boston College School of Social Work, 24 May 2019

This video explores Sugira Muryango: "Families Strengthening Intervention for Early Childhood Development: Alternative Delivery System of Poverty Reduction Strategies" in Rwanda—a project by the Research Program For Children and Adversity at the Boston College School of Social Work led by Salem Professor in Global Practice Theresa Betancourt.

How-to Video: 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 15 May 2019

This how-to video breaks down serve and return into 5 simple steps (from Filming Interactions to Nurture Development) and features adults and young children doing each step together.

A Systematic Review of the Evidence for Family and Parenting Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Child and Youth Mental Health Outcomes

Gloria A. Pedersen, Eva Smallegange, April Coetzee, Kim Hartog, Jasmine Turner, Felicity L. Brown, Mark J. D. Jordans - Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29 Apr 2019

This open access review presents evidence for family- and parent-focused interventions on mental health outcomes for children and youth in LMIC and identifies treatment components present in promising interventions.

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A Good Fit? Ireland’s Programme for Prevention, Partnership and Family Support as a Public Health Approach to Child Protection

John Canavan, Carmel Devaney, Caroline McGregor, Aileen Shaw - Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children , 27 Apr 2019

The focus of this collection is the promise of public health approaches to child protection and welfare systems development and delivery, and this chapter from the book Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children is a case study of what such an approach looks like in practice.

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