Parenting Support Policy Brief
Core messages
- Parenting support can be defined as the provision of services aimed at enhancing parenting skills and practices in order to address children’s physical, emotional and social needs.
- In Europe, parenting support is seen as a potential lever to improve educational outcomes and reduce the risk of criminal behaviour, and parenting skills are seen as drivers of reducing poverty and social exclusion.
- Parenting support has gained attention from policymakers in Europe since the 1990s. Policies related to parenting support lie within the responsibilities of individual Member States, but there are also some developments at European level. In recent years, parenting support has been incorporated into national strategies and legislation in a number of EU countries.
- Parenting support services provided in European countries vary in scope, organisation, models of delivery and funding.
- There is a trend in EU Member States to organise parenting support in universally accessible services. Supplementary targeted services are offered to at-risk populations. Support to families is mainly delivered through provision of information, education, advice and counselling on parent-child relations and interactions.
- Parenting support is delivered through a wide range of services and actions at both the national and local level, meaning that there is not a single common model for delivery of parenting support services. Some European countries have centralised services organised at the national level, whereas in other countries services are highly fragmented and organised at the local level.
- There is a trend towards a more integrated approach for provision of support to families through collaborative multi-agency working of education, health and social services professionals.
- Outreach to families is typically delivered through children’s centres and family information centres that offer a wide range of community health and social services. Most programmes are available for families with young children in the pre-school age, as services targeting this age group have proved to be the most cost-effective and efficient.
Published : 31st December 2012
Publisher : European Commission [ More From This Publisher ]
Rights : European Commission
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