Evidence to the National Assembly’s Children and Young People Committee into the Parenting Action Plan

Background

Sdim Curo Plant/Children are Unbeatable! (SDP/CAU!) campaigns in Wales to change the law to give children the same protection in law from assault that is afforded to adults in this country. Over 400 organisations that work with children and families, all four UK Children’s Commissioners and the Welsh Assembly Government support this position. Currently, the power to change the law resides with the UK Parliament and not with the National Assembly for Wales. We therefore continue to actively campaign for reform at Westminster with a number of Welsh MPs and Peers at the forefront of the political lobby.

In Wales, SCP!/CAU! works with non-governmental organisations; local authorities, health and other public bodies; churches and civil society and the Welsh Assembly Government to raise awareness, inform and educate parents, and those working with parents, about the injustice and dangers of 'smacking’ children and to actively promote positive parenting and alternative ways for parents and carers to discipline children.  We simultaneously encourage approaches that support children to actively claim their rights.

The Welsh Assembly Government has taken a principled stand against the physical punishment of children (the only government in the UK to do so) and agrees with the UN Committee that corporal punishment should be prohibited in law. The Assembly Government (with strong cross-party support within the legislature) has made representations to the UK Government on a number of occasions. Regretfully, the UK Government has not heeded these representations and children in Wales are still denied equal protection in law.

The Welsh Assembly Government has usefully focused energies and resources on doing what it has power to do under the current and previous devolution settlements, that is, promoting the message that smacking children is wrong and investing in support for positive parenting.  Since 2005 this work has been framed within its Parenting Action Plan: Supporting mothers, fathers and carers with raising children in Wales

Delivery of the Welsh Assembly Government Parenting Action Plan. Do parents receive more information, and is positive parenting effectively promoted?

For the period 2004- 2008, the Welsh Assembly Government funded a co-ordinator for the Children are Unbeatable! campaign in Wales who organised training, briefings and in conclusion produced a 'toolkit’ bringing together, in an easy-to-use format, resources that can be used to raise awareness, inform, and educate a wide range of audiences. The toolkit is easily accessible at http://www.helpathandtoolkit.info/. Training courses are currently being developed, to support its use, facilitated by Children in Wales see http://www.childreninwales.org.uk/Events/index.html

In addition two posts in Children In Wales have been grant funded, a 4 day Development Officer for Parenting and a half time post of Development Officer for Fatherhood. Both these posts have had a role in promoting positive parenting through dealings with the public, other professionals and through the media.

The Assembly Government also commissioned and published a booklet for parents on 'alternatives to smacking’, distributed by health visitors to all parents in Wales. An additional print run was also produced, with copies sent to Children’s Information Services (CIS), Flying Start, Children’s Partnerships and Pupil Referral units within Local Education Authorities. Although the booklets have been well received, there are ongoing problems with distribution, and Children in Wales stills receiving enquiries about how to obtain copies. However, not all parents are aware of where to access information, and not all parents have sufficient literacy levels to read and understand the information given to them.   

Positive parenting is promoted through most parenting programmes such as Incredible Years (Webster Stratton) and Family Links.  Positive parenting is also being promoted through the Sure Start and Flying Start initiatives and through YOT teams.  This includes informal promotion of positive parenting but also more formal Parenting Programme groups such as Incredible Years and Family Links. Positive parenting is also promoted through projects funded through Cymorth. Professionals, such as Health Visitors may also promote positive parenting but this is not universally the case.  Some professionals may be ambivalent about smacking and therefore not give a consistent or pro-active message to parents about the importance of positive and non-violent approaches to discipline. Most of the services offered through these projects and initiatives are targeted, a major public information campaign would be required to promote positive parenting to the wider population.

In 2007, Children are Unbeatable commissioned a scoping exercise to identify proposals for a government-led public education/communication strategy designed to change attitudes and behaviour around the physical punishment of children in the home and ultimately to contribute to a reduction in the incidence of parents and carers smacking their children. We subsequently discussed the reports recommendations (see Appendix 1) with the Minister for Children who directed that Children are Unbeatable! should be members of the Parenting Action Plan Steering Group and that this Steering Group should act as the steering group (recommendation 1 in the scoping report) for a public communication campaign to change attitudes towards the smacking of children, communicate alternatives and signpost sources of further advice and support.

Children are Unbeatable! agreed to take forward its commitment to develop a toolkit of resources that could be used by professionals, parents and members of the public volunteers to help change attitudes and behaviour around the smacking of children in the home. The toolkit (handbook attached) was launched (to much acclaim) by the Minister for Children in March 2008 and will continue to be revised and updated by Children in Wales on behalf of the Children are Unbeatable! Strategy Group in Wales. The toolkit built on work (funded by the Welsh Assembly Government’s New Ideas Fund) to evaluate a pilot programme implemented in Llansawel, Neath Port Talbot in 2006 to support parents to change their attitudes and behaviours around the smacking of children (Help at Hand). The executive summary of that evaluation report is attached as Appendix 2

Unfortunately, the Parenting Action Plan Steering Group were not able to take on the role of steering a public education strategy around the hitting of children despite promises to do so in August 2007 and despite the fact that the aforementioned scoping exercise had identified a number of the key elements based on what works in other public education campaigns (e.g. drink driving, wearing seatbelts) and the sensitivity of the smacking issue. This was disappointing but we understand the Steering group had no resources to implement the Parenting Action Plan or to start the process of developing and implementing a public education strategy. WAG funds have been spent on producing and piloting the aforementioned alternatives to smacking booklet for parents and financially supporting the CAU co-ordinator post but there has to date been no tangible work on a more comprehensive, government-led public communication strategy.   

Continued work on parenting

CAU is extremely disappointed that the Parenting Action Plan has been unable to deliver on most of the targets identified, that it has been allowed to come to an end, rather than be updated. CAU considers that promoting positive parenting; public education and continuing to push for a change in the law to give children equal protection should be key elements of the Welsh Assembly Government’s future Parenting Action Plan. Any new Action Plan needs to be resourced, regularly reviewed and evaluated and to have more profile in both the public and the related professional domains.

What has worked and what hasn’t

The CAU Toolkit includes, and references, materials and approaches that work in both changing attitudes and behaviours around the smacking of children and provide more effective means of disciplining children. It includes reference to a number of examples of good practice in supporting parents and what is known about why these approaches are effective See information attached, and at http://www.helpathandtoolkit.info/

Our evaluation of 'what works’ in supporting parents to change their behaviour in one community in 2006/7 (Help at Hand) gives a number of pointers to effective practice in supporting parents and promoting positive parenting. The executive summary of the Help at Hand report is attached in Appendix 2.

Save the Children Children in Wales
On behalf of
'Sdim Curo Plant/Children are Unbeatable Cymru
June 2008