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Time for a change Print E-mail

Does this add up?

I don't know if it's true or typical for your area but in my area:
  • There are 58,239 parents (1)
  • 1,036 have participated in a ‘parenting’ programme (2)
  • The area is 61st out of 354 in the Index of Deprivation on income (3)
  • And 65th out of 354 in the Index of Deprivation on employment (4)
  • And they spend £24,255,000 on children’s social care (5)
(1) From Medway Council 2010
(2) Review of ‘parenting’ programmes, see below 2009
(3) Index of Deprivation 2007
(4) Index of Deprivation 2007
(5) Medway Council website

From this it is clear that the same old, same old doesn’t add up and we need a different approach. We need to create personal empowerment, aspiration and confidence where families can live together and thrive. In this fast changing world we live in today, parents need new skills.

It is time for a change
Our unique personal development approach, a combination of advanced coaching and emotional literacy techniques, has not been easy to introduce because we are seen as providing a 'parenting' programme. These tend to make parents feel failures and stigmatised, who wants to feel like that? And the existing family support ‘system’ is locked into an old paradigm of psychology and counselling. Our approach makes parents feel positive, successful and comfortable within themselves.

We are not saying that there is not a place for traditional techniques. What is not being heard is ‘family breakdown’ costs us in excess of £40 BILLION pounds* in direct and indirect costs - EVERY year. So it’s fairly obvious that our current approach is not working. It's time to do something different.
* The Relationship Foundation (2010)
 
Comparison of models for Family Support
Model 'Parenting' programme Personal development
Assumptions Vulnerable parents with problems Magnificent parents with potential
Techniques Age related scripts and strategies Coaching and emotional literacy techniques
Process Tell parents what to do Ask parents what they need
Approach Group approach and looks at the past Person centred and looks positively at the future
Outcome Dependent and a need for more Empowered and sustained families

Opportunities within the system
Where Children’s Trusts have different Partnership Groups for say Families and Emotional Well Being the commissioning structure may not allow an encompassing intervention. Therefore one programme that can have huge beneficial outcomes is not considered within the normal terms of commissioning.
 
Extract from Review and future development of parenting programmes in Medway
A report by Kim Roberts, parenting strategy consultant - 5th June 2009
Name of programme No. of courses delivered during PEIP Cost per course Average group size Retention rate Cost per parent completing
Incredible Years 76 £32,955 9.5 72% £4,789
Triple P 230 £11,651 6.2 70% £2,743
SFSC 119 £20,851 12.1 76% £2,261
 
The equivalent figures for our programme are:
Name of programme   Cost per course Average group size Retention rate Cost per parent completing
Empowering Families
 £5,219* 10 85% £614
 
*including creche

Coaches as agents of change
The word 'coaching' is often misused when it’s actually mentoring. True coaching empowers and transfers responsibility to the client. Coaches may not be considered 'parenting practitioners' by some because we may not have child care or child development qualifications. That is because we consider the parent is the expert for their child and by empowering them they are able to resolve their issues and unleash the potential in themselves and their whole family.

Also we do not see parents as vulnerable but magnificent individuals. This creates a different energy in our interactions as we are not telling parents what to do, but asking them, using powerful questions, what they need to achieve the desired outcomes with their children.
 
The demand for coaching
Coaching is widely used across business. In fact, some Local Authorities encourage managers to take an advanced coaching course. And yet these same people put barriers in the way of allowing this intervention to be used by the parents they are serving.
 
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in 2009 found that almost 90% of organisations polled use coaching and of the more than 500 companies surveyed, 51% of them see coaching as a key part of learning and development and consider it 'crucial to their strategy’.
 
National Academy for Parenting Practitioners
One of our programmes, DYC Family Coach Certificate is on the Commissioners Toolkit with a poor evaluation because we are assessed as a 'parenting' programme which we are not. We have had meetings and discussions with the NAPP over the last 2 years and now they are creating another criteria for this type of programme.
 
Some recent outcomes
One of our programmes, ‘Parent Champion’ has achieved some very encouraging outcomes:
 
Everyone who attended has taken away the main outcomes - that parents listen, value and respect their children and themselves – changing the whole family dynamic and breaking a cycle of reactive behaviours. Other outcomes have been:

 

  1. Social Services are signposting the Family Coaching Cafe as a first point of contact and where there is not a legal process in progress, also for parents of older children as there is no provision for them
  2. A carer with a 10 year old who had been a real handful at school for the last 2 years changed his behaviour dramatically and got the best school report he had ever had
  3. A parent with a 14 year old diagnosed with Asperger’s had not spent any quality time with her for years and now they have regular quality time with the daughter being give incremental responsibility
  4. A single parent with 2 children decided to decorate her property
  5. A young single Mum signed up for some basic skills training and another parent for a sociology and combined sciences course.
  6. One parent has put an advertisement on KMFM radio for the Family Coaching Café
  7. Three teachers have told parents their children have been better behaved since they have been participating in the programme
  8. We are working with a school to reinforce their emotional literacy curriculum with the parents
  9. We have established the Family Coaching Café as a weekly drop in with structured learning
  10. The Family Coaching Café has attracted 9 new parents, three of whom have signed up for the second course. On average there have been three Parent Champions who have contributed to each session
  11. Two Parent Champions are regularly facilitating the Family Coaching Café sessions
  12. Several Parent Champions meet regularly for coffee mornings
  13. One Parent Champion is co-facilitating the next ‘Empowering Families’ course
  14. We have been encouraged by The Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services (C4EO) the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to submit details of this programme as an "excellent example of effective local practice".
  15. Four Parent Champions got together and recorded their experiences.
  16. Bligh Children's Centre is funding the extension of the Family Coaching Café until the Summer.
  17. One Parent Champion has started a Parent Champions Facebook Group.
See the case histories here and here for a full independent evaluation of the pilot programme.

 

More details of the programme here www.parentchampion.com
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 31 August 2010 )
 
 
 
 
 

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