Can parenting support help families better navigate future challenges?

Holly Ingram, policy and engagement officer, Tavistock Relationships

Traditionally, relationship support and parenting programmes have been seen as separate areas of policy, research and interventions. However, studies are increasingly showing that the stability of a parental relationship is essential to children's wellbeing. The link between the parental relationship and children's long-term outcomes is evident and the research is clear. In 2016, academic Gordon Harold wrote: “Whilst everyday conflict between couples and parents is common in families, parents who engage in frequent, intense, and poorly resolved conflict put their children's mental health and long-term life chances at risk.”

For parental support interventions to be effective, they must include a focus on the couple relationship. Too often, parenting programmes focus solely on the relationship between one parent and their child, without identifying the relationship between parents. This is an oversight and one which has serious implications for children's wellbeing. Programmes which understand the influence that parental conflict has on children and therefore seek to provide tools to address this have been found to greatly improve a variety of children's outcomes.