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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Preventing Abandonment at Pumwani Maternity Hospital

Better Care Network, 30 Sep 2020

In this video, Grace Mwangi takes a critical look at the social work approach to the prevention of child abandonment, and the impact different approaches can have on outcomes for women and their children.

Prevention of Child-Family Separation through Community-Based Social Work

Better Care Network, 30 Sep 2020

In this video, Grace Mwangi shares key lessons from her experience working in community-based social work with children and families at risk of separation in Kenya.

Kenya Practitioner Learning Video Series

Better Care Network, 30 Sep 2020

Comprised of videos and accompanying discussion guides, this video series features the learning from practitioners working across a range of care-related programs and practices in Kenya.

Do implementation contexts for the Positive Parenting Program improve child and parental well-being?

Antonio R Garcia, Minseop Kim, Christina Myers, Xuan Trinh - Journal of Social Work, 24 Sep 2020

this study relied on organizational survey data collected from child welfare workers and supervisors during the process of implementing an evidence-based practice—the Positive Parenting Program—and merged those data with data gathered by the Parents' Assessment of Protective Factors survey.

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Measuring parenting capacity for disabled children using a child protection assessment

Susan Flynn - Journal of Social Work, 17 Sep 2020

This paper provides a critical commentary on approaches to assessments of the capacity of parents of disabled children. International review of literature on this subject matter is enacted across three themes.

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Kinship capital: young mothers, kinship networks and support in urban South Africa

Nirvana Pillay - Social Dynamics , 28 Aug 2020

This paper explores kinship and other networks of support for young mothers and their babies after an unintended, ex-nuptial pregnancy in a resource-poor urban setting.

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Parents' perceptions of a group‐based parenting programme in families with child protection and other family support services in a real‐life setting

Piia Karjalainen, Olli Kiviruusu, Päivi Santalahti, Eeva T. Aronen - Child & Family Social Work, 23 Aug 2020

The aim of this study was to assess parents' satisfaction and perceived usefulness of the Incredible Years® (IY®) parenting programme in the Child Protection Services (CPS) context, where children's behaviour problems are common.

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Stress and parenting during the global COVID-19 pandemic

Samantha M. Brown, Jenalee R. Doom, Stephanie Lechuga-Peña, Sarah Enos Watamura, Tiffany Koppels - Child Abuse & Neglect, 20 Aug 2020

This study examined the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to parental perceived stress and child abuse potential.

Mothers with cognitive limitations who have children in placement benefit from intervention

Päivi Adolfsson, Gunnel Janeslätt, Helena Lindstedt, Karin Jöreskog - Child & Family Social Work, 13 Aug 2020

The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of mothers regarding their mothering role after participation in the ‘Mamma Trots Allt’ (MTA) program, a support program for mothers with cognitive limitations who have children in placement.

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Pregnancy and Parenting Among Youth Transitioning from Foster Care: A Mixed Methods Study

Heather L. Rouse, Tera R. Hurt, Janet N. Melby, Maya Bartel, Bethany McCurdy, Emily McKnight, Feng Zhao, Carol Behrer & Carl F. Weems - Child & Youth Care Forum, 09 Aug 2020

The purpose of the current study was to better understand the experiences of foster care youth to inform policy and practice recommendations that address the high rate of unintended pregnancies and early parenting among youth transitioning from foster care.

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