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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Mental Illness and Parenthood: Being a Parent in Secure Psychiatric Care

Fiona R. Parrott, Douglas l. Macinnes and Janet Parrott - Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, Vol. 25, No. 1 , 06 Mar 2015

This qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of parents in England who are separated from their children due to their placement in a secure psychiatric center. The study included participants whose children had been placed into foster or kinship care or family adoption.

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“The love that I was missing”: Exploring the lived experience of motherhood among teen mothers in foster care

Elizabeth Aparicioa, Edward V. Pecukonisa, Shalita O'Nealeb - Children and Youth Services Review, 10 Feb 2015

The present study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the experiences and meaning of motherhood among teen mothers in foster care in the United States.

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The ‘Being and Doing’ Side of Our Behavior: Family Well-Being in a Time of Change

International Federation for Family Development , 01 Feb 2015

This paper provides a brief overview of basic family structures in EU countries and a description of family breakdown and its impact on children’s wellbeing.

Fatherhood Initiatives: Connecting Fathers to Their Children

Carmen Solomon-Fears, Specialist in Social Policy - Congressional Research Service, 16 Jan 2015

This paper from the US Congressional Research Service provides an overview of fatherhood initiatives in the United States and includes brief evaluations of five of these initiatives.

MenCare in Matzikama: Sonke and the Matzikama Men and Boy Network Transform a Rural Community’s Norms around Gender, Sex, and Family

Sonke Gender Justice, Norad, MenCare, 2015

This case study documents how the Matzikama Men and Boys Network, in conjunction with MenCare’s co-coordinator Sonke Gender Justice, have transformed gender and family norms in a rural municipality in South Africa.

Opportunities for Strengthening Families Through Positive Discipline: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Study

PAN & Save the Children International, 2015

This study intended to develop data regarding how families parent and nurture good behaviour in their children; whether they know what would constitute nonviolent (positive) discipline; and if they actually utilized the positive aspects of disciplining. The study was conducted in specific areas (study clusters) in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda.

A public health approach to enhancing safe and supportive family environments for children

Daryl J. Higgins - Australian Institute of Family Studies, Family Matters 2015 No. 96, 2015

This report proposes a public health approach to promoting safe and supportive family environments for children and preventing child maltreatment in Australia.

Children First: Better Public Spending for Better Outcomes for Children & Families - Eurochild Conference Report

Eurochild, 2015

This report summarizes the discussions and activities held at Eurochild’s 11th Annual Conference, co-hosted by Hope and Homes for Children in Bucharest, Romania on 26-28 November 2014.

Factsheets for Promoting Positive Discipline

Sonke Gender Justice - MenCare Campaign, 2015

These eight MenCare “Positive Discipline Fact Sheets,” authored by MenCare co-coordinator Sonke Gender Justice, debunk common myths about corporal punishment and promote positive discipline and caregiving.

Key Learnings from the Ishema Mu Muryango Program

Global Communities and Hope and Homes for Children, 2015

This document highlights some of the key learnings from the Ishema Mu Muryango program, a program designed to safely and sustainably reintegrate children living in institutions in two districts of Rwanda into their families or communities and prevent further institutionalization.