parenting

What makes parenting programmes work in disadvantaged areas?

There is increasing enthusiasm, both in government and in the community, for improving child outcomes through parenting programmes. This drive encompasses the ‘Surestart’ and ‘Respect’ agendas, and emphasises the importance of children’s centres and school-based support. However, many programmes have failed to work when rigorously tested. This study examines factors which influence programme effectiveness in poor, ethnically diverse areas.

Parenting

Christine Puckering is Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow. She is qualified in clinical, forensic and neuropsychology and developed the Mellow Parenting Programme. She chaired the recent HeadsUpScotland Infant Mental Health Review and has provided infant mental health consultancy across the world.

Impact of family breakdown on children's well-being: evidence review

This review investigates the impact of parental separation and divorce on children’s well-being and development. The review incorporates evidence concerning family breakdown, and its consequences, in the context of understandings of ‘the family’, ‘breakdown’ and the ‘well-being’ of children and young people, and includes research relating to both married and cohabiting parents. ‘Well-being’ is defined as incorporating children’s mental, emotional and physical health.

Listening as a way of life : why and how we listen to young children

This resource examines the reasons for listening to children which includes that it acknowledges their right to be listened to and for their views and experiences to be taken seriously about matters that affect them. Listening can make a difference to our understanding of children’s priorities, interests and concerns and can make a difference to our understanding of how children feel about themselves. This resource highlights that listening is a vital part of establishing respectful relationships with the children we work with and that it is central to the learning process.

Children in care (Radio 4 series: Woman's Hour)

This episode of Radio 4's Woman's Hour series asks if children who get taken into care should be looked after by strangers or by members of their own family. The Children's Act says children should be looked after by family members - if they want to take on the responsibility and are deemed suitable. But on Woman's Hour, the Family Rights Group says family and friends are too often ignored or rebuffed by social services. If the family does get approved they don't always get the financial support they need.

Life as a teenager (Radio 4 series: The seven ages of humanity)

Four Radio 4 programmes in a series about the health and wellbeing of the seven ages of humanity, presented by Connie St Louis. These four programmes explore the teenage years. The first programme looks at the hormonal changes that are the hallmark of the teenage years, the second looks at teenage behaviour and the third at how adolescents relate to those around them. The final programme of the series looks at the later stages of adolescence.