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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Keeping Children in Healthy and Protective Families: Operational Research Project in Cambodia, Rwanda and Uganda

USAID, 01 Nov 2015

This two-page brief from USAID describes the “Keeping Children in Healthy and Protective Families” project, a project that is part of 4Children that “focuses on strengthening family care among households at high risk of children separating or where children can be reintegrated after having been placed in residential care.”

Faith to Action Initiative Webinar 3: Strategies for Strengthening Family Care

Faith to Action Initiative, 10 Oct 2015

This webinar from Faith to Action Initiative presents key strategies for expanding the capacity of families to care for orphans and vulnerable children.

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World Family Map 2015: Mapping Family Change and Child Well-Being Outcomes

Child Trends and Social Trends Institute, 22 Sep 2015

This annual report of the World Family Map Project shares the latest data on 16 indicators of family structure, family socioeconomics, family processes, and family culture in multiple countries as well as an original essay focusing on one important aspect of contemporary family life.

Early motherhood: a qualitative study exploring the experiences of African Australian teenage mothers in greater Melbourne, Australia

Mimmie Claudine Ngum Chi Watts, Pranee Liamputtong, and Celia Mcmichael - BMC Public Health, 10 Sep 2015

This research aimed to solicit the lived experiences of African Australian young refugee women who have experienced early motherhood in Australia.

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Children Need Families Not Orphanages

Lumos, 04 Sep 2015

This animated video from Lumos, narrated by Lumos founder J.K. Rowling, illustrates the “tragic consequences of orphanage care,” and argues that more can and should be done to support families to care for their children, eliminating the use of institutional care.

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Out of time: theorizing family in social work practice

Kate Morris, Sue White, Paula Doherty, and Lisa Warwick - Children & Family Social Work, 01 Aug 2015

This paper draws on a British Academy (BA) funded study exploring social workers’ conceptions of family using a vignette and focus groups.

The Power Of A Single Story: Why Orphan Prevention

Kelsey Nielsen, Co-Founder of Abide Family Center - Faith to Action Initiative Archives, 20 Jul 2015

This post from the Faith to Action Initiative highlights the work of the Abide Family Center in Uganda, which helps to keep families together.

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Behavior problems of children in foster care: Associations with foster mothers’ representations, commitment, and the quality of mother–child interaction

Karine Dubois-Comtois, Annie Bernier, George M. Tarabulsy, Chantal Cyr, Diane St-Laurent, Anne-Sophie Lanctôt, Janie St-Onge, Ellen Moss, Marie-Julie Béliveau - Child Abuse & Neglect, 15 Jul 2015

This study investigated different environmental and contextual factors associated with maltreated children's adjustment in foster care in Quebec, Canada.

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Do fathers care? Measuring mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of fathers’ involvement in caring for young children in South Africa

Gareth D. Mercer - Doctoral Thesis, University of British Columbia, 01 Jul 2015

This Doctoral Thesis explores whether children in South Africa who reside with their biological father have better health than children whose fathers live elsewhere.

State of the World’s Fathers Child Rights Perspective Report 2015

Piotr Pawlak, Laxman Belbase, Lena Karlsson - Save the Children, 25 Jun 2015

This report was developed by Save the Children to accompany the State of the World’s Fathers 2015 report (SOWF), produced by MenCare. This Child Rights Perspective report is an excerpt of the main SOWF report, highlighting the content from the main report that is related to children’s rights and gender equality.