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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Case Study on Improving HIV Testing and Services for Children Orphaned or Made Vulnerable by HIV (OVC): Approaches of the Expanded Impact Program in Zimbabwe

Francesca Stuer & Kate Greenaway - 4Children/Catholic Relief Services, 25 Aug 2017

In this case study, Coordinating Comprehensive Care of Children (4Children) documents and evaluates the work of the World Education/Bantwana Expanded IMPACT program in Zimbabwe.

Case Study on Improving HIV Testing and Services for Children Orphaned or made Vulnerable by HIV (OVC): Approaches of the Yekokeb Berhan Program for Highly Vulnerable Children in Ethiopia

Francesca Stuer & Kate Greenaway - 4Children/CRS, 25 Aug 2017

In this case study, Coordinating Comprehensive Care of Children (4Children) documents and evaluates the work of Pact's Yekokeb Berhan Program for Highly Vulnerable Children in Ethiopia.

Interventions Designed for Children with Histories of Institutionalization and Placed in Foster or Adoptive Families

Maureen Riley-Behringer and Victor Groza - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This paper provides evidence-based guidance on the use of family interventions involving children with a history of institutionalization prior to their placement in family-based care through foster care, adoption, or reunification with their families.

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The Evaluation of the Adoption Support Fund

Sadie King, Matt Gieve, Giorgia Iacopini, Anna Sophie Hahne, Heather Stradling – The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, 01 Aug 2017

This report presents the findings of an evaluation of the UK's Adoption Support Fund undertaken by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations.

Catawba County Child Wellbeing Project

Kyle McCarthy, Christina Triplett, Heather Ball and Sarah A. Morrison - Catawba County Social Services & Center for the Study of Social Policy , 01 Aug 2017

This report is a case study of the Child Wellbeing Project, which sought to address the reduction of services to families post-care compared to available in-care services to prevent foster care re-entry, ensure permanence, and improve long-term outcomes for children.

Radical practice in a risk-averse environment: Learning from ATD Fourth World UK

Hannah Blumhardt, ATD Fourth World UK, and Anna Gupta - Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 31 Jul 2017

This report examines and shares learnings from ATD Fourth World UK's social work practice framework with families experiencing poverty, discussing its strengths-based collaborative approach to build relationships and reduce power imbalances between practitioners and families. Implications for the feasibility of implementing this framework in child protection social work practice and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand is also addressed.

Feasibility and efficacy of an attachment-based intervention in a maltreatment sample in residential care: A pilot study

Marta Casonato, Sarah Nazzari, Alessandra Frigerio - Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 17 Jul 2017

This study measured the effectiveness of a Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline program for mothers and their 10- to 36-month-old children placed in parental residential care.

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Supportive housing program for homeless families: Foster care outcomes and best practices

Sonja Lenz-Rashid - Children and Youth Services Review, 17 Jul 2017

This study observes foster care re-entry for young people whose families participated in Cottage Housing Incorporated's Serna Village Program (CHI), a supportive housing program serving homeless families in Sacramento, California.

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Challenges Faced by Young Mothers with a Care History and Views of Stakeholders About the Potential for Group Family Nurse Partnership to Support Their Needs

Jessica Datta, Geraldine Macdonald, Jane Barlow, Jacqueline Barnes, Diana Elbourne - Children & Society, 05 Jul 2017

This qualitative study, embedded in a randomised trial of the Group Family Nurse Partnership (gFNP) program, was designed to explore the challenges faced by women with experience in the care system during pregnancy and early parenthood and to assess the potential of gFNP to meet their needs through the perspectives of a range of informants.

2017 Home Visiting Yearbook

James Bell Associates with the Urban Institute - National Home Visiting Resource Center, 01 Jul 2017

The 2017 Home Visiting Yearbook presents, for the first time, the most comprehensive picture available of home visiting on the national and state levels, revealing the breadth of home visiting in the United States and identifying the gaps in practice.