Harriet Churchill

Investing in Parenting Education: A Critical Review of Policy and Provision in England

Parenting education has been given an increasingly important role in government policies to address social exclusion. This paper examines the basis for investing in parenting programmes and reviews the various different types of parenting education provision. It discusses the evidence on the effectiveness of multi-component and group parenting programmes in modifying parent–child relationships and the outcomes for children and young people. The paper concludes that while such programmes appear to produce beneficial outcomes, it is important that they remain linked to a strategy that does not individualise the causes of social exclusion.

Retrenchment and restructuring: family support and children's services reform under the coalition

Purpose – With the UK Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government reaching its mid-term point, this paper examines its austerity measures and public expenditure reductions in family support and childrens services, and its revisions of family support, family intervention, child poverty, child well-being and childrens services reform policies in contrast to the former Labour governments. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is informed by policy analysis and research reviews. Findings – The analysis focuses on three dimensions of policy change: first, reductions in income support for children and families and central government funding for childrens services; second, refocusing child poverty, child well-being and family policies around the Conservatives “Broken Britain” campaign and the Liberal Democrats targeted social mobility initiatives; and finally, broader childrens services reforms. The paper recognises some progressive developments but charts the social welfare implications of reduced welfare e...

Refocusing on Early Intervention and Family Support: A Review of Child Welfare Reforms in New South Wales, Australia

Since 2000, the New South Wales (NSW) Government in Australia has pursued major child welfare reforms. Responding to the ‘crisis in child protection’ and informed by a public health approach, key aims were to prevent child maltreatment and promote child welfare by ‘expanding and enhancing early intervention and family services’. This article critically reviews the aims, approach and main developments in NSW. The article argues that in several respects the reforms extended and enhanced early intervention and family services in cost-effective ways but suffered from implementation problems, limitations in service developments and major reform challenges which inhibited their scope and impacts. These limitations raise critical issues about the reform framework, resource constraints and ideological influences.

New labour versus lone mothers’ discourses of parental responsibility and children's needs

Abstract This paper examines policy and maternal accounts of parenting in light of New Labours reforms aimed at reducing social exclusion among lone parent families in the UK. Drawing on documentary policy sources and in‐depth interviews with welfare reliant and employed lone mothers, the paper highlights convergence and divergence between policy and maternal accounts. While policy and maternal perspectives demonstrate a shared concern with good mothering, differences emerge in how responsibilities and needs are defined, prioritised and resourced. New Labours welfare reforms stress parental responsibilities for labour market participation, childrens educational development and childrens social behaviour; with parents who do not prioritise these activities deemed problematic. However, mothers’ accounts demonstrate a much more complex understanding of the risks as well as opportunities associated with paid work, education and behavioural control. Mothers negotiated concerns about mothering practices, maternal authority, childrens agency, family well‐being and access to resources which are downplayed in national policy debates. The conclusion argues that New Labour policy discourses neglect issues of well‐being, diversity and inequality which, if more fully recognised, could enhance anti‐poverty and family support measures aimed at mothers.

Introduction: Intensive Family Support Services: Politics, Policy and Practice Across Contexts

The last twenty years have seen major international developments in welfare state support and services for children, parents and families. Increases in provision occurred within established areas such as welfare benefits, family allowances, child welfare services and maternity leave entitlements; and new ‘forms and modalities of provision’ were introduced (Daly et al. , 2015 : 10), in particular parental and paternity leave entitlements; welfare-to-work programmes and active labour market policies; conditional cash support schemes; in-work subsidies for low income families; childcare and early education services; earlier intervention and prevention programmes; parenting and family support services; and inter-departmental, inter-professional and inter-agency models of service provision (OECD, 2009 , 2011 ).