How programme helps put parents back in control

Project
Parenting programme

Funding
Part of a £1.7m contract to deliver services across five children’s centres in Kirklees.

Purpose
To improve the wellbeing of children and families by boosting parents’ skills and confidence

Background
Action for Children runs five children’s centres in the Dewsbury and Mirfield area of West Yorkshire and was keen to offer high-quality parenting courses to local families. But when the charity launched the Incredible Years parenting programme four years ago, organisers struggled to get parents to stick with it.

“So many people fell away and I realised many just weren’t ready for an intensive 14-week course like that,” explains parenting co-ordinator Pauline Frame.

Action
Frame went on to develop a range of courses and a screening process to make sure parents choose the right course for them.

“We realised we needed to screen people to make sure we weren’t simply putting them on a course and expecting ?them to fit in with it,” she explains.

Referrals come from a range of routes including health visitors, social services, family support and families themselves.

The charity now offers seven courses including the six-week Share Plus course, Incredible Years and Steps, which is designed to boost confidence and help parents to set goals. Often parents who embark on a shorter course then move on to more intensive courses, says Frame.

The programme also includes a boys’ development course to help mums understand how to support and motivate their sons as they start school; the Speak Easy scheme that helps parents address sexual health issues; and the Family Links scheme designed to help families deal with children’s behavioural problems.

Families who attend courses get free childcare and use of the crèche. They meet the workers beforehand and visit the centre a week before the course starts to get a feel for the setting.

Outcome
The retention rate for parenting courses has shot up from about 40 per cent to 90 per cent or 50 per cent for parents from deprived areas.

Each course is evaluated, with parents asked to rate aspects such as their confidence, mood, and ability to set goals, before and after.

For example, an evaluation of a Steps course from January to March this year shows all 11 parents who signed up ?went on to complete the course and most reported improvements in confidence, ability to get on with other people and feeling more positive and in control.

Of the 11, one had a child in foster care who was able to return home, four went on to do other courses, two got jobs and two became volunteers for Action for Children.

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