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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The Future Begins in the Family

Partnerships for Every Child, Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family of Moldova, Ministry of Education of Moldova, USAID, VIITORUL, 01 Feb 2013

This 10-page newsletter, translated into English, is issue number two of a series produced by the “Protecting children of Moldova from family separation, violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation” project, which is implemented by Partnerships for Every Child, the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family of Moldova, and the Ministry of Education of Moldova.

Skillful Parenting and Molding Behavior at an Early Age: Bridging the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do

Parenting in Africa Network for the Ultimate Protection of Children , 01 Feb 2013

This new study by Parenting in Africa Network (PAN) was conducted in three regions in Kenya (Nairobi, Mombasa and Busia), involving primary care givers of children age 0-8, children participating in Early Childhood Development and Education centers, and stakeholders and professionals involved in skillful parenting and early childhood development.

Nepal: Kinship Care at Community is Better Model to Ensure Psychosocial and Economic Security of Orphans Living with HIV than from Care Homes

Acharya SL, Pokhrel BR, Ayer R, Belbase P, Ghimire M, Gurung O, 29 Jan 2013

The objective of this study was to investigate which model of care and support is more appropriate for improving psychosocial and economic security of AIDS orphans in Nepal.

Country Care Reviews: Burkina Faso

Better Care Network , 25 Jan 2013

Care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the initial report of Burkina Faso under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Sri Lanka: Engaging Fathers for Children’s Education and Family Well-Being

Nathan Golon, GoodFight Media - MenCare Campaign, 2013

This four-page publication describes World Vision and Promundo’s work in Sri Lanka in 2012-2013 as part of the MenCare campaign.

Common Ground: UNICEF and World Bank Approaches to Building Social Protection Systems

Laura Rawlings, Human Development Network, World Bank and Sheila Murthy and Natalia Winder, Social Policy and Economic Analysis Unit, UNICEF, 2013

This brief outlines the common ground between the World Bank and UNICEF in their commitment in developing and strengthening social protection systems and calls on other stakeholders to engage collaboratively to build such systems and expand their coverage.

Orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Crisis, the Interventions, and the Anthropologist

Bright Drah , 2013

In this paper, the author argues that the response to the orphan crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has focused mainly on mobilizing and distributing material resources to households with orphans. Only a few anthropologists have interrogated the frameworks and values on which the projects for orphans are based. The paper provides an analysis of the trends in foster-care research in Africa and the author suggests that current ethnographic data on foster-care practices do not adequately reflect the changing context of fostering in that continent.

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Out of home care in France and Switzerland

Thomas Gabriel, Samuel Keller, Flora Bolter, Marie-Paule Martin-Blachais, Gilles Séraphin, 2013

This article focuses on the structural similarities and dissimilarities that exist between child protection systems in France and Switzerland, as exemplified by the evolutions of the last decade.

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Stories of Change: Fathers Care Campaign

Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ) - MenCare Campaign, 2013

MenCare India shares personal anecdotes from its 2013 Fathers Care Campaign.

Chronic Neglect: Bulletin for Professionals

Child Welfare Information Gateway, Caren Kaplan , 2013

This Child Welfare Information Gateway bulletin for professionals in the US discusses what chronic neglect is and reviews ways to work with families experiencing chronic neglect, including critical elements of successful casework practice, examples of what agencies are doing, and ways agencies can integrate child welfare approaches to chronic neglect with prevention and early intervention efforts.