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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Emotion‐oriented coping and parental competency: An evidence‐based parenting intervention for parents of children with special educational needs

Man Yee Ho and Siya Liang - Child & Family Social Work, 23 Feb 2021

This study examines a promising new coping and parental competency (CPC) intervention for parents of children with special educational needs that targets parents' mental health outcomes.

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“It is not just about doing or saying the right things”: Working systemically with parents whose children are placed in public care

Ellen Syrstad & Ottar Ness - The Journal of Family Therapy, 12 Feb 2021

This article explores the possibilities of a systemic approach in the support of parents whose children are placed in public care.

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Effectiveness of a Brief Preventive Parenting Intervention Based in Self-Determination Theory

Wendy S. Grolnick, Madeline R. Levitt, Alessandra J. Caruso & Rachel E. Lerner - Journal of Child and Family Studies, 01 Feb 2021

This study examined the effectiveness of a two-session preventive parenting intervention, the Parent Check-In. The intervention, grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), is designed to facilitate adaptive parenting, specifically autonomy support, structure and involvement, and parenting efficacy, and to increase autonomous self-regulation and decrease behavior problems in children.

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Supporting Mothers of Pre-Term Babies: Pumwani Maternity Hospital Abandonment Prevention Program

Better Care Network, 01 Feb 2021

In this video, Grace Mwangi discusses the specific support needs of mothers of pre-term babies or those with a congenital condition.

Listening to children: Evaluation of a positive parenting programme through art‐based research

Ainoa Mateos, M. Àngels Balsells, Nuria Fuentes‐Peláez, María José Rodrigo - Children & Society, 22 Jan 2021

This paper presents data from a unique programme evaluation of the parenting programme titled ‘Learning together, growing as a family’ applied in 14 cities in Spain and targeting families at risk of neglectful behaviour.

Nobody’s Perfect: Making sense of a parenting skills workshop through ethnographic research in a low-income neighbourhood in Santiago de Chile

Marjorie Murray, Daniela Tapia - Critical Social Policy, 12 Jan 2021

This article explores this workshop in terms of its relationship with the daily lives of participants, based on one year of fieldwork focused on families with young children in a low-income neighbourhood in Santiago.

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A Post-Reunification Service Model: Implementation and Population Served

Berenice Rushovich, Kristin Sepulveda, Victoria Efetevbia, Karin Malm - Children and Youth Services Review, 05 Jan 2021

This article presents descriptive information on the 25 families that enrolled and received Success Coach services and 38 families in a control group using data from baseline and follow-up surveys and administrative data to examine safety, placement stability, and well-being.

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The State of the World’s Fathers 2021

Gary Barker, Aapta Garg, Brian Heilman, Nikki van der Gaag, and Rachel Mehaffey - Promundo-US, 2021

The State of the World’s Fathers 2021 report – the fourth in the series – presents research on care work during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on structural barriers that prevent equitable distribution of caregiving between women and men.

Working with Parents of Young Children

Aga Khan Foundation, 2021

This course is a resource for parents or those who work with parents of young children to support them to provide brain-building experiences and nurturing care.

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The Children of Looked After Children: Outcomes, Experiences and Ensuring Meaningful Support to Young Parents In and Leaving Care

Louise Roberts - Bristol University Press, 2021

Based on groundbreaking original research, this book provides a comprehensive account of the issues surrounding pregnancy and parenthood for young people in and leaving care.

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