Children and Young People’s Committee

Inquiry into Parenting Action Plan

Response from Barnardos Cymru Cardiff

Introduction

Barnardos’ Cymru has been working with children, young people and families in Wales for over 100 years and is one of the largest children’s charities working in the country. We currently run 42 diverse services across Wales, work in partnership with 19 of the 22 local authorities and last year provided support to over 16,500 children, young people and families. Our services include:

Care leavers and youth homelessness projects
Young carers schemes
Specialist fostering and adoption schemes
Family centres and family support
Parenting
Community development projects
Short breaks and inclusive services for disabled children and young people
Assessment and treatment for young people who exhibit sexually harmful or concerning behaviour
Specialist services for children and young people at risk of or abused through child sexual exploitation

This response is based on our experience as a major organisation working with and for children and young people and in partnership with other agencies across Wales. Our response has been informed by the view of Barnardo’s Cymru Service Managers.

Delivery of Parenting Action Plan

The Parenting Action Plan agreed in 2005 had some very modest goals and it is disappointing that many of them have either been partially achieved or not accomplished at all.

Bilingual helpline for parents

Tthere appears to have been no progress made towards this aim. A the moment, Parentline plus currently provides an English language service that Welsh parents can access. It is imperative that a Welsh language service can be provided in the future.

Develop and distribute a series of booklets

Three booklets have been produced and distributed via health visitors and schools. These booklets have been well received.

Working group on grandparents to propose a programme of action

The working party has met and produced a report with 18 recommendations. However, there appears to have been no response from the Assembly government.

Funding a training programme for the Incredible Years programme

This training package has been delivered, although there are some concerns about how many facilitators have used their training knowledge.

Commission SCIE to produce information on programmes used in Wales

The Assembly has co-operated with several local authorities to commission research into the family links programme. There are other programmes used in Wales that need to be assessed eg For parents of teenagers

Strengthen parental participation

A useful practice guide has been produced by Jayne Isaac. However there is no reporting mechanism to see how well local authorities have implemented the recommendations for the report. There have been some authorities who have set up parent networks to improve parental participation in both planning and delivery of services.

Framework Partnerships to consider the needs of parents and carers

This recommendation is rather vaguely worded and is therefore difficult to judge the outcome.

Piloting CIS satellites in schools and integrated children’s centres

At the moment we are unaware of how many CIS satellites have been set up. We would therefore need more information to comment on this recommendation.

Promoting parental participation in school

There is little evidence of any Assembly initiative to improve participation, despite strong evidence about the effectiveness of parental involvement in raising attainment in both primary and secondary schools.

Further development of parents.net

This website no longer exists and has not been replaced by any other resource that is available to parents.

The amount of support available to parents

There is some evidence that services to parents have improved, as a result of the commitment of local framework partnerships. In particular Flying Start has seen an upsurge in provision for the 0-3 year in certain geographical areas. This is an example of services that are targeted at a particular group or area. This is a worrying development as research shows that parents whose children have behavioural difficulties are located throughout the community rather than in specific geographical areas.

The provision of open access services appears to encourage particular groups such as fathers and those from BME communities to see that services can be non-stigmatised.

More information available

The introduction of Family and Children’s Information Services is to be welcomed. However much of this information is through the written form, which is not appropriate for those with learning difficulties or literary problems. There is a need for other methods to reach a wider audience such as TV campaign, information sessions and the use of graphics and images in written materials.

Parental participation in planning services and in schools

here are some examples of increased participation in voluntary organisations, but this is not embedded in statutory services. For instance, parents and relative carers do not seem to be considered relevant in children’s services when they plan services for children. Participative principles have rarely been seen in the education or health fields. For example, CAMHS services seem very reluctant to involve parents or carers in any meaningful way in the planning and delivery of services.

The issue of parental involvement in schools and education is crucial in raising educational attainment and achievement. We would wish to refer the committee to the recommendations of the National Behaviour and Attendance Review and particularly one of the core recommendations for a Senior Manager in every school to have responsibility for parental involvement.

Barriers experienced by parents in accessing services and information services

The key barriers that our managers report are those of language (particularly for BME communities), gender, literary levels, eligibility for services and stigma.

With most services being targeted at specific individuals or groups of parents, many carers, mothers and fathers report that they feel that they have to be a 'bad parent’ to receive help and support. This stigma has prevented many mothers and fathers and other carers from seeking earlier help. The voluntary sector providers are currently seen by parents as more welcoming than some statutory bodies, such as Social Services Departments

Many of our services report the need for innovative approaches to attract fathers into services that can be seen by many as being female focussed. For example, service providers need to offer services at times convenient to fathers and working parents - in the evening and at weekends

Examples of innovative services

The following may be seen as example of innovation that could be replicated in other areas.

Parent Works operates throughout rural Powys with a partnership approach with local health social care and education professionals, who co-deliver the incredible years parenting programme. In particular this work with primary schools has meant that there has been more interest and involvement by teachers, not only in delivering the parenting programmes, but also in support programmes in classroom management, emotional literacy and social skills.

Neath Port Talbot Parenting Matters has emphasised the importance of using service users as volunteers and facilitators in their programmes. This gives credibility to their work with others parents and carers. The service also uses different materials to overcome literacy and gender issues (eg by attracting men as volunteers). All parents are offered OCN accredited awards for their course completion and approximately 70% take up this option. Most of these users have few if any previous qualifications.

Our Compass service in Wrexham runs Family Group Conferences for children in need where a decision needs to be made about their future. Extended members of the family are involved in the planning and management of their meeting, so that they can feel fully involved in the decisions that are made. Professionals are able to set the parameters for any decisions, but then they leave the meeting and the family members assume the responsibility for making a plan. Children feel that they have an active role throughout the process, and families are able to 'own’ the decision that is reached.

Continued work on parenting issues

The key issues still to be addressed by the Welsh Assembly Government may be summarised as follows:

The need for a universal service that meets parents’ needs when they are struggling with their children.
Further resources at the centre to ensure that there is leadership and direction in terms of training, research and professional support.
Ensuring that all health, social care and education professionals offer a consistent message about positive parenting to avoid confusion for parents and carers. A parenting strategy linked to each local authority’s single plan would be a good start.
Understanding that parents need accessible help from ante-natal classes through to the early twenties. Currently one of our universal services, health visitors, stop their involvement at the age of 4 years.
A bi-lingual telephone helpline which needs to be widely publicised throughout Wales.
Services that ensure workers engage with fathers and extended family members, who are very important to children. E.g. Fathers in prison and grandparents who care for their grandchildren.
Use of common evaluation tools to compare the results of different programmes.
A response to the recommendations of the Assembly Government’s working group on grandparents.

What has worked and what hasn’t

There are many examples of good practice throughout Barnardo’s Cymru and some of the key elements are summarised below:

The use of well-trained staff who are able to interact positively with parents. Research for SCIE shows the crucial importance of trained facilitators in group work with adults.
Programmes that respond to parents’ needs, and services that are willing to spend time to ensure that parents and carers feel comfortable and welcome.
Using well researched programmes that are known to deliver improvements in outcomes for children and parents.
The involvement of service users and others as volunteers in all aspects of planning, delivering and managing services gives credibility to the work and helps to engage other parents.
Ensuring that some costs such as child care expenses are met by providers.
Working with other professionals eg Youth offending Services to co-deliver programmes for parents that give a consistent message.
Planning services to avoid duplication and increase the numbers who are able to access services.