In Focus: Family nurse partnerships

Insight

Asking for help can be daunting for parents, especially when they feel that in doing so they may be exposing themselves to accusations of bad parenting. Teenage mothers often experience stigma.

A recent YouGov poll commissioned by Home-Start UK revealed the extent of this fear, with almost 7 in 10 parents with children under the age of five saying that being called a “bad parent” is the most offensive criticism they could receive.

Young mothers who have themselves experienced difficulties at home can have an initial resistance to receiving outside help, seeing this as reflecting badly on their parenting skills. In the 2010 Family Commission, it was found that while 47 per cent of families polled said they thought families needed more advice and information when things go wrong, only 14 per cent agreed that families needed more help from social services specifically. That is one of the reasons why family nurse partnerships are so successful: the nurses work with families, providing them with practical and empowering support – in contrast to the experience many will have had from other services.

So it is really good news that the government is expanding the Family Nurse Partnership programme. We can learn from this and other successful interventions, like family intervention projects, about what really works in getting families on the right track and preventing cycles of disadvantage.

Anne Longfield is chief executive of 4 Children