CYP(3) PAP 01

Children and Young People Committee

Inquiry into Parenting Action Plan

Response from Wrexham Children’s Information Bureau on behalf of Children’s Information Services Wales

Introduction

Children’s Information Services across Wales provide information to parents and carers on childcare and other children’s services as well as parenting issues to support them in their parenting role.  

The Children’s Information Bureau (CIB) in Wrexham was the first Children’s Information Service (CIS) to be established in Wales and achieved the National Quality Award for CIS in 2003 and again in 2007.  The CIB receives over 5,000 enquiries a year mainly from parents looking for childcare and other support in bringing up their children.  

The CIB is currently delivering a development and support programme to the 22 CIS in Wales funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.  National networking meetings of CIS disseminate good practice and link with many parenting and childcare organisations.

The Parenting Action Plan states that one of the most important things that parents need is advice and information.  CIS play a key role in the provision of quality, accessible and impartial information and guidance to parents and families across Wales.

As a result of the implementation of the Childcare Act (2006) and the increased duties of CIS, they will be renamed Family Information Services (FIS) during 2008.

Delivery of the Parenting Action Plan
How effective do you consider the implementation of the Parenting Action Plan to have been

In considering the implementation of the PAP it is necessary to look at the progress made on each of the action points.  

"We will develop a national bilingual helpline for parents in Wales”.

The development of a national helpline is on hold due to agreement not being reached between WAG and the DCSF in relation to funding of the helpline. It is unclear if this issue is being taken forward by anyone/ any department in WAG.  CIS in the meantime refer parents under stress to Parentline Plus which, although not funded to provide a service in Wales, does take calls from parents in Wales.  There is an urgent need to progress this issue to enable parents in Wales to have access to a fully bilingual service.

"The Assembly Government will develop and distribute a series of booklets for all new parents in Wales”.

Three booklets have been produced by Children in Wales on behalf the Assembly Government entitled 'From Breakfast to Bedtime, 'Over the Top Behaviour in the Under 10’s’ and 'Help at Hand’.  These booklets have been distributed to CIS and have been welcomed by parents and professionals across Wales.  CIS urgently require additional copies of the booklets as they have proved so popular with parents and professionals working with families in Wales.

Whilst these booklets can help support many parents, concerns were expressed by many colleagues that the booklets were not ap propriate for parents with low basic skills due to the language style and print size.

In many areas information about CIS is provided in Birth packs for new  parents and CIS information is distributed by many Health Visitors.

"We will set up a Working Group in the Autumn 2005 to consider the Beth Johnson Foundation report on Grandparents in Wales”.

A working group was set up and met 4 times between December 2005 and July 2006.  CIS were represented on this group.  A short report with 17 recommendations was produced by the group.  Recommendations 7, 12 and 13 have been taken forward by CIS in Wales as follows:  

Recommendation 7: Progress:

Work-life Balance booklets have been produced by the CIB and distributed to employers and employees across Wales via their local CIS.  
Recommendation 12: Progress:
CIS are now recording enquiries received by grandparents and promoting their services to grandparents and extended family members.
Recommendation 13: Progress:
The Welsh Assembly Government has issued guidance on the Childcare Act  2006 which states what information CIS should provide to parents, including grandparents and other relatives.

We will commission work early in 2006 to produce a practice guide for Partnerships on parental participation and empowerment”.

Parent Participation: Practice Guide for Children and young People’s Partnerships”, was issued in September 2006 and copies were sent to CIS for distribution to professionals working with children and families’

We will invite Local Education Authorities and Children’s Information Services to pilot CIS satellites in primary and secondary schools, and in community focused schools and in the new integrated centres”.

Links with community focused schools have been forged and in Wrexham have included collections of CIB leaflets and information to support parents.  In addition the CIB is currently piloting Parents’ Information Points (wall mounted kiosks) in five areas of the County Borough. Other CIS are looking to develop similar services.  Four are part of Integrated Children’s Centres networks in the Wrexham Communities First areas and one is located in a secondary school to support the Team Around the Child initiative currently being piloted in Wrexham.  

We will undertake further development of Parentsnet to ensure its suitability for all parents”.

The Parentsnet website is currently unavailable.  Parentsnet was not well known or used by parents.  If developed further to meet the needs of all parents it could be widely promoted by CIS across Wales. Links could be set up on CIS websites and Parents’ Information Points (kiosks). The site could be promoted as part of the information available through CIS.

Has the amount of support available to parents increased?

Parenting Support funded by Cymorth has been rolled out across Wales. This has been complemented by Flying Start with support to parents in disadvantaged areas.

Access to services providing support to parents has increased due to improved access to information and support provided by CIS across Wales.  Across Wales CIS are reporting increasing user statistics.

Is support accessible for all parents?

The Childcare Act 2006 Guidance (par.3.58) states that information (provided by CIS) should be accessible to all parents who might otherwise find it difficult to access the support they need, including linking with partners to increase take up from disadvantaged and low income families.  It specifies those who may be socially excluded, including BME communities, those where English is not the first language, parents of children with disabilities, refugees, asylum seekers, families with disabled or mentally ill parents and travellers.  Information and support should be provided to all who need it including fathers as well as mothers and to carers as well as natural parents.  The CIB has set up systems to monitor the use of the service by marginalised groups.

If all CIS were adequately resourced all parents would have access to the information on all services and support available to them..

Is support getting through to the parents who need it most?

Through Cymorth funded Parenting Projects/programmes, assessment of need is undertaken to ensure parents in greatest need are being supported.

Parents who live in Flying Start areas receive support, but all parents irrespective of their postcodes should be able to access the support they need at the right time throughout their children’s lives.  Ensuring access to information on all support services for parents is a key role for CIS.

Do parents receive more information, and is positive parenting effectively promoted

The overall number of requests for information from parents received by the CIB has increased by 42%, from 3,134 in the year 2004/05 to 4,461 in 2007/08.  This increase is reflected in CIS across Wales.  In addition, since April 2007, information for parents has been included on the CIB website with 5,999 visits to the website between April 2007 and March 2008 and almost 3,000 people have accessed the Parents’ Information Points between July 2007 and March 2008. Those parents requesting information on parenting support are signposted to services which can provide advice as well as to a range of parenting support organisations and classes. This information is also available on CIS websites.

Not all parents are aware of the services offered by CIS.  Many intermediaries, such as Health Visitors and Social Workers, are also not aware of the information and support that CIS can offer to them and the families they work with.  A campaign to promote CIS across Wales will be undertaken later this year when the new name for CIS (Family Information Services) will be launched.  

The Welsh Assembly Government has produced booklets to promote positive parenting which have been distributed to CIS across Wales.  These have been welcomed by parents and professionals and are now in short supply.  More copies are urgently required.  Parents  with low basic skills also require information in more accessible language and formats. Several CIS purchase and distribute parenting booklets produced by the NSPCC and Parentline Plus. Positive parenting is also promoted through parenting programmes such as Incredible Years.

Do parents participate more in planning services and in schools?

There is more parent participation in planning services.  A recent example is the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment undertaken by local authorities across Wales.  All parents were sent a questionnaire and focus groups of parents were held to find out about their childcare needs in order to inform the planning and delivery of childcare services in the future.

The development of Parent Networks in some areas has ensured that parents are supported to be involved in the development of services. Further support to cover travelling and childcare costs would enhance this involvement.

Are you aware of barriers experienced by parents in accessing support services and information sources? What are the key reasons for these barriers?

One of the barriers that exists is the lack of awareness of support services available and how to access them.  The reason for this is that CIS are not promoted nationally and many do not have the capacity to effectively promote their services locally.  

The Childcare Act places a new duty on local authorities to provide information to parents of children and young people aged 0-19 on childcare and other services to support them in their parenting role and how to access those services.  Many CIS are inadequately resourced to meet the requirements of the Act.

Other more practical barriers are transport especially in rural areas and childcare costs.

Can you provide any examples of innovative practice in ensuring that services and information is accessible, and barriers can be overcome?

The Genesis Wales project has provided many examples of innovative practice in making services and information accessible. No other organisation provides the in-depth support that Genesis has been able to provide.

Parents’ Information Points (touch screen kiosks) are being piloted by the CIB in Wrexham and other CIS in Wales to improve access to services and information.  They are proving to be extremely popular to parents who would otherwise be unable to access the service provided by their local CIS.  From the kiosks parents can telephone, free of charge, the CIS for further help and information and can print off information from the screen or email information home.   Parents can access information about services at the touch of a button in their own community.  The CIB is currently seeking additional sources of funding to roll out this new initiative to rural areas of the County Borough where transport to the main CIB office in Wrexham town centre can be a barrier.   

Merthyr Tydfil CIS has appointed an outreach information officer, aiming to reach parents who would otherwise not access the service.

Ceredigion have used a voluntary agency Plant Dewi, specialising in community development techniques to support the Flying Start programmes, Family Centre Network development and Parent Network, linking all elements of Parental Participation.

Continued work on parenting

What do you consider to be the key parenting issues still needing to be addressed by the Welsh Assembly Government?

Access to services and information to support them in their parenting role is a key issue for many parents.  Information at the right time can prevent families being in greater need of services later on.  Up to date information on benefits and funding for childcare such as tax credits and childcare vouchers is also crucial to ensure parents are aware of their entitlements.

Local authorities have a duty to provide information on services, and how to access them, to all parents.  Many CIS do not have the capacity to fulfil this duty on behalf of the local authority. The Welsh Assembly Government should support Local Authorities to ensure that CIS are adequately resourced so that parents have access to the full range of services to support them in their parenting role.

The Welsh Assembly Government should ensure that CIS continue to be supported through the CIS support programme which is currently due to end March 2009.

What has worked, and what hasn’t
Are you aware of any examples of good practice in supporting parents?  Can you detail these, and explain why these examples have been successful

Over 500 parents in Wrexham, including a significant number of Lone Parents, have been provided with advice, support and guidance to enable them to take up training and employment opportunities through the Genesis Cymru.Wales project.  This is replicated across Wales.

The project in Wrexham was managed by the CIB from 2005- 2008.  Of the 501 beneficiaries supported by Genesis 170 received further training and 189 entered employment, taking many children and families in Wrexham out of poverty.  Twenty seven took up voluntary work.

Many of the beneficiaries accessing training attended the hugely successful 'Making Choices’ childcare taster course and many of their children had their first experiences of childcare in the free creches.

Genesis 2, expected to commence mid 2008, will have similar aims and objectives to the original Genesis project and will support parents who find it hard to reach services to address barriers to employment and training.

The success of Genesis.Cymru Wales can be attributed to the dedicated team of advisors and support staff and to the numerous partners in the voluntary, private and statutory sector who supported the many activities of the project.

Can you identify any areas of the Parenting Action Plan which you consider to have been successfully implemented, and any that have not?  Why have these areas been successfully implemented, or not?

Action point 8 has been successfully implemented in Wrexham and by many CIS in Wales.  CIS satellites (Parents’ Information Points) have been established in primary and secondary schools and in community focused schools and integrated centres.  They have been successfully implemented due to the commitment of the local authority, the resourcefulness of staff in accessing sources of funding and effective  partnership working.

The Incredible Years Parenting Programme has been successfully implemented, but there is a capacity issue. Some people who have received training are not able to deliver the programme as it involves a considerable amount of time and resources to deliver the programme effectively.  

There is a need to extend the programme to all parents not just to parents referred by professionals working with disadvantaged families.  CIS receive many enquiries from parents who would benefit from a parenting programme.  There needs to be a broader range of parenting programmes on offer.  Some parents need a very basic programme to help build confidence and self esteem before considering a more formal parenting programme, such as Incredible Years.

The national bilingual helpline was allegedly not implemented due to financial issues.  A national working group monitoring the actions in the PAP was supported initially but no meetings were facilitated in the last 18 months, wasting potential opportunities and solutions that could have been found to address these issues.