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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Families Together: Home Visiting Parenting Guide – Flip Book

Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC), 01 May 2023

Families Together is a positive parenting program for use with families at risk of separation and families undergoing reintegration of children from residential care.

Strengthening Families: Parents' Experiences at the Front End of the Child Welfare System

The Center for the Study of Social Policy, 20 Mar 2023

This presentation is by the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance and their colleagues regarding a project they have been working on in partnership with parents to identify alternatives to CPS investigations.

WHO Guidelines on Parenting Interventions to Prevent Maltreatment and Enhance Parent–Child Relationships with Children Aged 0–17 Years

World Health Organization (WHO), 10 Feb 2023

This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations on parenting interventions for parents and caregivers of children aged 0–17 years that are designed to reduce child maltreatment and harsh parenting, enhance the parent–child relationship, and prevent poor mental health among parents and emotional and behavioural problems among children.

WHO Guidelines on Parenting Interventions to Prevent Maltreatment and Enhance Parent-Child Relationships with Children Aged 0-17 Years

The Perceived Impact of Peer Parental Advocacy on Child Protection Practice

Clive Diaz, Samantha Fitz-Symonds, Lilly Evans, David Westlake, Richard Devine, Diletta Mauri, Bethan Davies - What Works for Early Intervention and Children’s Social Care, 2023

This report presents the findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of peer parental advocacy (PPA) in the London Borough of Camden.

Combination of “Parenting with Tenderness” and “Parenting on the Move” in Migratory Contexts: Successes, challenges, and recommendations

Save the Children Spain, 01 Dec 2022

The objective of this Save the Children Spain document is to gather the key findings of the combination of “Parenting with tenderness” and “Parenting on the move” in migratory contexts. It also seeks to improve the quality of its implementation in the context of Mexican migration, based on good practices and lessons learned.

Guaranteeing Child Fostering and Parental Rights in Nigeria: Law and Policy Perspectives

Wilson Diriwari, 01 Nov 2022

This article examines the practice of customary child fostering in Nigeria and the state of parental rights in such a situation. The significance of the practice and its impact in mostly Nigerian traditional communities raises the question of its regulation in order to safeguard children's rights as well as parental rights.

Parenting Tips for Challenging Times - Help Children Cope with a Crisis with these Practical Steps

World Without Orphans, 21 Sep 2022

This video and attached parenting tips offer simple and practical recommendations for Ukrainian parents on how to help themselves and their children to overcome various crisis situations.

Parenting Tips for Challenging Times - Help Children Cope with a Crisis with these Practical Steps (Ukrainian)

World Without Orphans, 21 Sep 2022

У цьому відео ми пропонуємо прості і практичні рекомендації про те, як у цей непростий час допомагати собі та своїм дітям долати різні кризові ситуації.

Reinstating Parental Rights That Have Been Terminated: Finding Ways to Restore Legal Connections for Children Who Had Been in Foster Care

Linda-Jeanne M. Mack, Richard P. Barth, 01 Sep 2022

This paper reviews the range of factors state legislation includes in the U.S., reviews scant existing literature on how termination of parental rights (TPRs) may effect youth, and proposes several options for ways that unproductive TPRs can be reduced, and timely reinstatements increased.

The Importance of Processing Stakeholder Emotions in Transition

Better Care Network, 26 Aug 2022

In this video, Anne Kinuthia, shares how social work practitioners from Kivuli, a residential care service provider in Kenya, used a simple, fun, and non-threatening activity called My Say to help children, families and staff, surface and process their emotions during the organization’s transition.