Section 3 - priority projects

Supporting and working with parents

Accountable Officer - Kevin Peers

Lead Officer - Philippa Court

Reference Group - Parenting Strategy Project Board

Key Links - all outcomes

What’s the story?

Parents are the single most important influence on securing positive outcomes for children and young people. Good parenting is an important precursor to achieving fully the ambitions of the CYPP. Pre-birth and the early years are
particularly significant. There is overwhelming evidence that poor attachment has significant and long term influence on a child’s emotional development.

Recent DCFS and Cabinet Office publications identify that we need to shift from thinking ‘children and young people’ and ‘parents’ to thinking ‘family’. They advocate a holistic way of working with families who are vulnerable or at risk. This is a challenge to traditional children and adult services to work together in a
different way and it needs to be reflected in our parenting strategy.

In Devon there is a wide range of support, intervention, training programmes and
individual activity but it is not well co-ordinated or evaluated effectively. Services do not necessarily match need and there are duplications and gaps by geographical spread, age range and level of need. There is also variation in how far (or at all) parents are involved in shaping services. We have an opportunity to achieve much more through a clear commissioning strategy.