Children and Young People

Inquiry into Parenting Aaction Plan

Response from Pembrokshire Children's Partnership

In Pembrokeshire a multi agency Parenting Strategy group, led by Social Care and Housing, is in the process of developing a local strategy in line with the Welsh Assembly Government's National strategy.

The county also has a parenting forum made up of practitioners which is led by the Children's Partnership and Cymorth 0-10 Manager. The voluntary organisation Plant Dewi is mainly responsible for the delivery of a range of parenting programmes on an individual, group and rolling programme basis.

Funding for the delivery of courses is through Cymorth, Social Care and Housing and Flying Start. Other statutory agencies such as Hywel Dda NHS Trust, CAHMS and Education Department also deliver specific parenting programmes.

Particular successes in Pembrokeshire in respect of parenting include:

the development of a dad's group, where dads and their children meet together to discuss issues and to promote positive relationships,
the provision of a tiered approach to parenting in the Flying Start area where three specific programmes are provided and
multi agency working where Health Visitors, Child Care Support Workers and Plant Dewi workers all co-facilitate parenting programmes.

Delivery of the Parenting Action Plan

Aspects of the plan that have been delivered successfully include:

Integration with the childcare strategy
Provision of The Pregnancy Book and Birth to Five
Continued support of the CIS both locally and nationally where parents can access information regarding childcare and parenting issues.
Provision of the two booklets From Breakfast to Bedtime and Over the Top Behaviour in the Under 10's.
Training of practitioners in the Incredible Years Programme.
In order to improve parents' access to information the Plant Dewi team works with the local maternity unit to ensure that every new parent leaving hospital receives a leaflet about parenting, the CIS distributes information regarding parenting courses on its Website and the parenting forum has developed a newsletter for professionals who can then inform parents of relevant courses.
One of the key barriers to parents accessing support services and information about parenting is the high demand for one to one support as parents can be reluctant to attend groups.

Continued work on parenting.

The key issues with regard to parenting still needing to be addressed are

More evaluation of courses not just the Incredible Years Programme
Development of National parent telephone line

What has worked and what hasn't.

Examples of good practice are the development of national resources and booklets for all parents.
Flexibility for each Local Authority to develop parenting provision responsive to local need, although funding will always be an issue.
Raising the profile of the benefits of participating in parenting programmes.