CYP(3) PAP 06
Children and Young People Committee
Inquiry into Parenting Action Plan
Response from Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council
Delivery of the Parenting Action Plan:
Implementation of the Action Plan is restricted at a local level due to competing demands for resources. Parenting support services were developed in RCT well over ten years ago and the introduction of Sure Start and the more recent Flying Start initiative has enabled the support available to parents of young children, to be enhanced significantly. However, such support has highlighted many gaps in provision particularly for parents having complex challenges in their lives and those with older children. Parenting support is not a service that can be operated effectively on a shoestring budget. Without there being significant investment by the Welsh Assembly in this area of work and a serious attempt is made to support the most vulnerable families in society, then we can only scratch the surface and continue to look on in despair as families having high level needs struggle to raise their children effectively. In an area such as this, with high levels of poverty and disadvantage the challenges facing parents and their children are many. We have significant numbers of parents: with poor health, mental health challenges, alcohol / substance dependency and for many, domestic violence is an every day occurrence. There is a need therefore, for what is often labour intensive and expensive, sustained support to such parents - if we are to have any real impact on the most vulnerable families and the quality of the parenting they are able to give their children.
The level of support available to parents of young children has increased through both Sure Start and Flying Start and the relatively new local Family Aide Support Team. However, as with any new intensive support service such as Flying Start - higher levels of need are identified on an ongoing basis. All Flying Start Health Visitors and other early years practitioners are trained and competent to deliver Webster Stratton and similar parenting support programmes but the reality for many families is that they need intensive 1-1 support to try and resolve very complex and entrenched family issues and parenting styles. There is little left in Flying Start revenue budgets after the basic FS entitlements are provided, to employ or even train practitioners to a level where they are competent and confident to work with families with high level and complex needs. Through the willingness of staff within the Education Welfare Service (EWS), parenting support is being made available to the parents of children with poor attendance records, as an alternative to prosecution and of course, the Youth Offending Service continues to support families known to them. Several pilot parenting programmes have been trialled by the EWS with positive outcomes for both the parents and the attendance rates of children at school. Again, this is labour intensive as staff, work with very disadvantaged families and without dedicated resources for this area of work, we are restricted in what we can deliver.
Effective and comprehensive support is not accessible for all parents. Access to universal support is fairly easy for the parents of young children and there is improved access for many parents experiencing some difficulties but for those in greatest need and those with older children, we can only support some of the families due to the intensive nature of the intervention required and very limited resources for this purpose.
Some support is getting through to those who need it most but we are aware that we are only 'scratching the surface’ and positive outcomes with this particular large cohort of parents, will require significant investment if we are to achieve any measure of success and positive outcomes for children.
Positive parenting is promoted locally and some parents know the meaning of the phrase but rarely those with high level needs. A lot more information is made available to parents but whether or not those in greatest need register the information or take notice of it is debatable. Consultation with a range of parents in disadvantaged areas, demonstrates that they remain ignorant of the range of services that are available to them and some Government initiatives. However, local research has also shown that the free childcare associated with Flying Start has achieved very effective word of mouth information sharing in local communities, which in our experience is the most effective means of sharing information. The Genesis project also experienced the benefits of word of mouth publicity and information sharing.
Parents are involved in the planning of services and have greater participation in schools - particularly since the introduction of the Community Focused Schools agenda. An RCT Parents Forum is established together with a forum for the parents of disabled children. Fairly extensive consultation has been carried out with a range of cohorts of parents within the local authority area.
Continued Work on Parenting:The key parenting issues, which need to be addressed by the Welsh Assembly Government are:
Ring fenced funding to develop effective support services for those parents with high level needs. Room hire, lunches and refreshments, together with transport and childcare are additional costs associated with parenting support programmes, which can be a significant barrier to service delivery.
The introduction of a national qualification framework for those wishing to work with parents, in order that some form of quality control is in place. (Poor advice and support being worse that no advice and support)
Financial support to enable relevant agencies to employ and develop a higher level of 'Parenting Support Officer’ who may be qualified in Counselling, Family Therapy or similar, in order to support the most vulnerable families and those with complex challenges.
The Welsh Assembly Government needs to really demonstrate its commitment to this area of work and back it up with investment. The current action plan is weak and not far reaching enough to have a significant positive impact on parents in greatest need and indeed, the plan fails to demonstrate any real depth of knowledge of the every day realities of life for so many of the families we are trying to support.
More support is needed from WAG concerning work with fathers in their role as parents. Many organisations and Local Authorities continue to try to meet the needs of fathers and to improve the parenting skills of the men they work with, but this area of work receives little support and recognition from WAG in spite of overwhelming research evidence of the critical impact fathers have on the wellbeing and development of their children.
What Has Worked, and What Hasn’t?
Locally we have employed a parenting support coordinator for about 8 years. The purpose of the post is to coordinate parenting support activity across the authority and was developed following an audit of RCT parenting support carried out in 1999, which demonstrated over 100 organisations and individuals were providing parenting support in an ad hoc fashion with no one agency taking lead responsibility. Our aim is to provide some quality control mechanisms and to ensure provision is more targeted.
A network of parenting support groups, are established, together with a Parents Forum.
A locally developed initiative known as 'Changing Rooms’ is particularly effective in engaging parents and improving their numeracy skills and relationships with other parents in the area.
A Parenting Support Network of providers has been established and is working well together in developing a Parenting Support Strategy for the Authority.
Since 1999 we have operated a 'Dads Matter’ project under the auspices of Sure Start. The aim was to work with fathers to enhance their interaction with their young children. However, the two officers employed on the project are receiving an increasing number of referrals for fathers with complex needs including those involved in child protection proceedings, domestic violence and substance/alcohol misuse. In addition, the needs are so great locally, that we are unable to cope with the demand and now have an extensive waiting list - many of whom are in crisis. A need has also been identified to work with fathers who are on pre-release programmes from prisons in order that the relationships with their children (and wives/partners) are sustained during imprisonment and they are taught effective parenting skills in the pre-release period. However, we are unable to meet this need within our available resources.
The Family Information Service locally, has developed a number of outreach bases in local primary and secondary schools as part of the Community Focused Schools agenda and to help us deliver the service to a wider range of parents and children.
Annually we provide a Teddy Bears picnic in a central location in Pontypridd. An increasing range of organisations concerned with parents, children, early years and childcare, attend the event, which usually attracts about 6,000 participants - mostly children, parents and grandparents. The aim of the day is to showcase all of the services available to children and their families, including some national services, whilst giving families a fun day out.
We produce an annual, bright and eye catching Early Years and Family Support newsletter. Full of information about new and existing services together with details of new Government schemes such as the Foundation Phase and Flying Start. We also operate a free-phone service, to provide parents and carers with information about local and national services. Our statistical information shows that this service is growing in popularity year on year.
Very recently the RCT Parenting Support Coordinator, in partnership with other agencies, produced a Good Practice Guide for planning and delivering Parenting Groups.We have established a network of Dads groups locally
We support the development of Parent and Toddler groups locally and have a broad range of group activities for parents and their young children e.g. Stay and Play, Coping With Young Children, Your Bump and Beyond etc.
The Education Welfare Service has piloted a number of Parenting Support groups for those having children who have a poor attendance record. This work has had significant positive outcomes for many of the parents as well as the school attendance of the children. However limited resources restrict our activity in this area.
The role out of On Track (Re- named Hub and Spoke locally) is making progress in coordinating and in some cases providing, parenting support to families locally, in partnership with Flying and Sure Start.
Genesis Wales RCT has provided immeasurable support to parents wishing to build a better life for themselves and their children. Through the network of Family Support Services, Genesis is able to identify individuals and groups of parents who want support to change their lifestyles and realise their aspirations. Genesis provides a range of confidence building activities before supporting beneficiaries into more formal learning activities and/or work. In addition the project will meet childcare, transport and training costs as well as any other costs/barriers, which may impede their access to learning or developmental opportunities. Whilst this is seen as a Welfare To Work initiative for funding purposes, it was originally created in RCT by the author of this report, to alleviate the effects of poverty on families and children.
