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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Adapting a Parenting Program to Support Family Reintegration

Coordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children), 2019

This Practitioner Brief presents key learning and recommendations from the Keeping Children in Healthy and Protective Families (KCHPF) project, an operational research project which supported the reintegration of children living in residential care back into family care in Uganda.

Identifying effective interventions for promoting parent engagement and family reunification for children in out-of-home care: A series of meta-analyses

Christine Maltais, Chantal Cyr, Geneviève Parent, Katherine Pascuzzo - Child Abuse & Neglect, 19 Dec 2018

The aim of this meta-analysis is to identify the most effective interventions to promote parental engagement and family reunification in high-income countries.

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Social Support and Relationships with Family and Friends

Susan M. Love and Theresa Knott - Handbook of Parenting and Child Development Across the Lifespan , 07 Dec 2018

This chapter from the Handbook of Parenting and Child Development Across the Lifespan explores five domains of research connecting social support and parenting: (1) intergenerational transmission of parenting; (2) community and neighborhood; (3) marriage quality; (4) grandmothers; and (5) offline and online friends.

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Improving psychosocial services for vulnerable families with young children: strengthening links between health and social services in Germany

Ilona Renner, Victoria Saint, Anna Neumann, Daria Ukhova, Sabine Horstmann, Ullrich Boettinger, Martina Dreibus, Astrid Kerl-Wienecke, Pilar Wulff, Paul Mechthild, Heidrun Thaiss - BMJ, 07 Dec 2018

This article from BMJ describes cross-sectoral collaborative efforts in Germany to enhance the skills of parents to care for young children.

Parental empowerment and child behavioural problems during youth care involvement

Harm Damen, Jan W. Veerman, Ad A. Vermulst, Rozemarijn van Pagée, Rozemarijn Nieuwhoff, Ron H.J. Scholte - Child & Family Social Work, 06 Dec 2018

The aim of this study was to examine changes in parental empowerment and child behavioural problems during a period of youth care and how changes are related to the kind of services provided.

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Group-based parenting program to improve parenting and children's behavioral problems in families using special services: A randomized controlled trial in a real-life setting

Piia Karjalainen, Olli Kiviruusu, Eeva T. Aronen, Päivi Santalahti - Children and Youth Services Review, 05 Dec 2018

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the effectiveness of the Incredible Years® (IY) Parenting Program in modifying children's behavioral problems, parenting practices and parents' psychological well-being among families under child protection and using other special support services.

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Nurturing Strangers: Strategies for Nonviolent Re-parenting of Children in Foster Care

Andrew Fitz-Gibbon, Jane Hall Fitz-Gibbon, 03 Dec 2018

Nurturing Strangers focuses on loving nonviolent re-parenting of children in foster care. This book is a jargon-free mix of narrative and real-life case studies, together with the theory and practice of nonviolence.

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Khmer Language Version: Child Protection and Education Needs for the Children and Adolescents of Phnom Penh’s Urban Poor Communities

UNICEF Cambodia, 01 Dec 2018

This study examines child protection risks faced by preschool age children (3-5 years old) and adolescents (10-14 years old) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and determines the interconnectivity between such risks and education.

Preventive Benefits of U.S. Childcare Subsidies in Supervisory Child Neglect

Kathryn Maguire‐Jack, Kelly M. Purtell, Kathryn Showalter, Sheila Barnhart, Mi‐Youn Yang - Children & Society, 23 Nov 2018

Using data from age 3 of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the current study explores the complex relationships between U.S. childcare subsidies and neglect.

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Negotiating the care of children and support for caregivers

Nolwazi Mkhwanazi, Tawanda Makusha, Deidre Blackie, Lenore Manderson, Katharine Hall and Mayke Huijbregts - South African Child Gauge 2018, 20 Nov 2018

This chapter from the South African Child Gauge 2018 focuses on childcare and children’s caregivers in South Africa and aims to address the following questions: Who provides care for children? How does the state support or undermine care choices? Why and how should the state support caregivers?