Supporting Parents, Strengthening communities

Link: Home Office

Parents across the country whose families are showing signs of anti-social behaviour will be given a helping hand after the Government today announced it will set up a network of parenting experts as part of a wider drive to promote respect in all our communities.

Dedicated parenting experts will be established in 77 areas across England, through a £4 million boost in Government funding, to ensure that those parents who are worried about their children’s behaviour can get the help they need to put an end to the bad behaviour and bring up happier, better behaved children.

Frontline staff tackling anti-social behaviour will call on these parenting experts to provide help to families in evidence based parenting classes or sometimes on a one to one basis.

This new package of support comes on the same day as research shows that the public think that parents not bringing up their children properly is one of the main causes of anti-social behaviour. The key findings of the survey are:

* 53 per cent say poor parenting is one of the key causes of anti-social behaviour;

* 55 per cent say better parenting would do most to reduce crime;

* four out of five people agree that parents should be held responsible for the bad behaviour of their children;

* 92 per cent would like to see all ten year olds indoors and off the streets at 8:30pm on school nights;

    * 95 per cent support police taking children under 16 home if they are being anti-social after 9pm; and

* one third of parents would look for help from their friends and family when dealing with difficult or troublesome behaviour and two thirds would find help from outside these useful.

More at the link above

Comments

[Melanie Barnes]

Considering most badly behaved children are bi-products of parents who have too many hurts and troubles of their own which therefore renders them less able to deal with being a parent. Would the government / churches consider two suggestions. One is to educate children in secondary school in parenting classes, before they become parents. And the other suggestion is - to make it law that all first time mothers / fathers would have to enrol on a parenting course, to include counselling for themselves if needed, and for a framework of support to be available to those who during the course feel they need it afterwards. Food for thought!