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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Men and Caregiving

Ruti Levtov - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support describes Promundo’s approach to engaging men as fathers and caregivers of children.

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Parenting support in the context of HIV

Lorraine Sherr - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support focuses on parenting interventions for the wellbeing of children and families in an HIV/AIDS context.

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Gender Roles in Parenting and Family Support in Ethiopia

Emebet Mulugeta - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support describes gender roles in parenting in Ethiopia, the missing role of fathers in parenting, legal/policy provisions of family support, and some work being done to engage fathers.

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Family support and social protection

Elana Gaia & Denise Stuckenbruck - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support includes an overview of family trends in the CEE/CIS region, some promising practices in social protection, and thoughts for going forward.

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Parenting support in the context of violence prevention

Bernadette Madrid - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support discusses a study on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on brain development.

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Family support for prevention of family separation

Florence Martin - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support discusses family separation, including the factors leading to it, global data on children’s living situations and how it relates to preventing separation.

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Violence prevention: how to ensure parenting support

Rosana Morgado - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 27 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support focuses on the risks facing, and the needs of, poor families in Brazil.

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The Development and Implementation of a National Parent Support Policy in Jamaica, Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support

Maureen Samms-Vaughan - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 26 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support provides an overview of the National Approach to Parenting in Jamaica and the lessons learned from the program.

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Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support: Final Report

Rachel Bray - Innocenti, UNICEF Office of Research, 26 May 2014

This report includes an outline of the discussion, activities, and conclusions from a two-day expert consultation on family and parenting support, organized by Innocenti, the UNICEF Office of Research.

Drivers of parenting support, policy and provision in Croatia

Ninoslava Pecnik - Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support, 26 May 2014

This presentation from Innocenti’s Expert Consultation on Family and Parenting Support describes the development of parenting support policy in Croatia.

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