Survey onthe role of parents and the

support from the Governments in the

EU

commissioned to the ChildONEurope Secretariat by the Portuguese Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity in the

context of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU

Report Structure

I. International instruments- United Nations- European Union- Council of Europe

II. CRC Committee concluding observations

III. Comparative analysis of EU States policies and programmes on parenting support

Annexes: Bibliography and web-sites

International instruments: United Nations (I) CRC – key elements

Principles for children’s rights • No-discrimination, survival and development, best interest, child hearingParents• provide appropriate guidance and direction (in a non-violent manner) • provide materially for the child • enable the child to be heardStates• the guarantor • the enabler• the promoter

International instruments: United Nations (II)

CRC – key elements

• Emphasize the way of parenting: nurturing, provide structure, provide recognition, be empowered

• Shifts emphasis from parental authority to parental responsibility

• Role of States Parties:- Develop a policy on parenting - Support parents in rearing their children - Policy includes four functions:

a. creating the conditions for positive parentingb. removing barriersc. promoting positive parentingd. providing equal access to resources

International instruments: European Union (I)- no formal competence to act in the area of family

affairs except with regard to migrant workers and their family members

- the issues of family well-being is present in a transversal manners in others EU policy areas, such as:

• social ex/inclusion • free movement• working conditions • employability• social cohesion• pensions• gender equality• migration.

- the main concern in all these actions is the balance between work and family life, without mentioning other forms of support dedicated in particular to the socio-educational dimension

International instruments: European Union (II)

Communication from the European Commission promoting

solidarity between the generations (May 2007)

- Family policies remain the exclusive responsibility of the Member States

- the Lisbon Strategy is considered as a framework for the modernisation of family policies through the promotion:a. of equal working opportunities for womenb. of a better reconciliation of work, private and

family life

with the main objective to contribute to female labour force

participation.

International instruments: Council of Europe (I)

COE Recommendation (2006)19 on positive parenting adopted by the Committee of

Ministers (13/12/2006)Defines:- “parenting”, as “all the roles falling to parents in

order to care for and bring up children” - it is evident a focused on the relationship between parents and their children

- “positive parenting” considered as the parental behaviour ensuring the fulfilment of the best interests of the child “that is nurturing, empowering, non-violent and provides recognition and guidance which involves setting of boundaries to enable the full development of the child”.

Considers: - the “creation of the right conditions” as the:

ensuring of access to appropriate material, psychological, social and cultural resources and undertaking steps to remove barriers to positive parenting

International instruments: Council of Europe (II)

COE Recommendation (2006)19 on positive parenting

adopted by the Committee of Ministers (13/12/2006)

The national programmes and policies suggested need to be adopted with the intention to achieve three main objectives:

• facilitate the access to appropriated and variegated material, psychological, social and cultural resources for all of those rearing children;

• remove all the existing obstacles to the positive parenting;

• promote positive parenting through actions of awareness raising.

II. Comparative analysis

The survey focuses in particular on the socio-pedagogical support given to parents through parental education programmes and counselling.

• The nature of parenting has deeply changed it

requires therefore an appropriate attention and

response by the States.

• In this framework, the specific aim of the survey is to

identify policies, programmes and interventions on

parenting support currently carried out by the EU

Member States at national level, to compare them as

well to share some of the most significant and

innovative experiences in this field.

II. Comparative analysis

Information from:

- ChildONEurope partners

- Council of Europe Conference of European ministers

responsible for family affairs, XXVIIIth session, 16 – 17 may

2006, Lisbon, Portugal "Changes in parenting: children

today, parents tomorrow"

- Last EU countries report to the CRC Committee

the reference made in the text to specific projects carried out

in

the different EU countries does not claim to be exhaustive, but

rather aims at presenting different kinds of experiences as a

basis for reflection and knowledge-sharing

Legislative and organisational framework (I)

• few States have enacted specific legislation on the issue of parenting programmes, references can be found in more general legislations (e.g. family welfare, children's rights and protection)

• three different levels of intervention as regards the bodies involved:

- bodies responsible for planning (central authorities and local governments)

- bodies that finance the activities (central authorities and local governments)

- bodies that are entrusted with the task of realizing the different parenting programmes. (local agencies, local services and private organizations)

Legislative and organisational framework (I)

• decentralization of the provision of parenting services and programmes

• good public and private integration

E.g. Specific bodies- National Advisory Group to strengthen parenting

education in schools, the National Family and Parenting Institute, National Academy for Parenting Practitioners (UK)

- Birth and Children Office – Belgium (French Community)

- Networks for listening, support and counselling of parents (REAAP), France

- National observatory on family (Italy)

The modalities of providing parenting

support programmes (I)

• Introduction of a family support dimension in the provision of health services in particular those related with family planning, pregnancy and the rearing of new-born children

• Courses about birth preparation, increasing tendency to involve also fathers in these initiatives

• Home visits after the birth of a child are also

becoming more common

The modalities of providing parenting support programmes (II)

parental education and counselling can be provided

through general courses, workshops or conferences addressed to all interested parents or through

individual advice to parents upon request

- telephone help lines are increasingly used (e.g. Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, UK) or also of website forums.

- pre-marital counselling for young couples is offered in many countries by church related services or associations.

- child-care services or school related services aimed primarily at children but aiming to involve parents as well.

The modalities of providing parenting

support programmes (III)

• parents associations often provide networks that link families, community networks and parents self helping groups

• family mediation and mediation in school

• awareness raising campaigns also through TV and radio programmes as well as brochures, booklets, publications and websites on parenting education

• parenting support initiatives for families at risk or with specific difficulties

Some examples of parenting support programmes

Pilot project for parents' education at workplace

(Austria)

Triple P – Positive Parenting Programme (Germany,

Netherlands etc)

Springboard Initiative (Ireland)

Video Home Training (Netherlands)

Centres for Family Support and Parental Guidance

(Portugal)

Community Parent Education Program (COPE) and

KOMET (Sweden)

Parental counselling and parental “schools” (e.g.

Cyprus, Greece, Estonia, Romania, Spain)

The characteristics of parenting support

programmes

• age of children: the majority of the initiatives taken by the different countries is addressed to families with young children, mostly from 0-6 years. However there are also some examples of specific initiatives for parents of adolescents and of children who start the school

• modalities of access: free in the majority of cases as they are supported by public funds, some require a low participation fee. Private institutions that are not funded by government ask for a higher participation fee.

Aims and contents of parenting services and

programmes

Empowerment of parents

Accent on prevention (e.g. Netherlands

electronic files for each child; UK – “Respect

Action Plan”)

Promotion of alternative methods to corporal

punishment (many awareness raising

campaigns and studies on the effects of

prohibition of corporal punishment e.g. Sweden)

Critical points limited availability in terms of geographical

distribution of services

impossibility to reach all interested families also

due to budget limitations

mainly for families at risk and not as a general

instrument to support all parents

difficult inclusion in these programmes of migrant

families

difficulties in networking among the different

bodies involved

Training and research

Most countries show a strong interest in investing in training and

research

- UK - National Academy for Parenting Practitioners

- Austria - Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has elaborated a training scheme for enhancing professionalism

- Spain study entitled “Strategies to prevent and deal with conflicts in the family relations (parents-children)”; Observatory on Family-School-Social Agents Partnerships

- Portugal - cooperation protocol among different public institutions and universities

- Sweden - the Government has commissioned a study to the Swedish National Institute for Public Health on methods and programmes for parental support and education

Guidelines for Work with Parents

Council of Europe Recommendation

Rec(2006)19 of the Committee of Ministers

to member states on policy to support

positive parenting

Parenting UK - “The Principles and Values

of the Work with Parents sector”

French Networks for listening, support and

counselling of parents (REAPP)

Guidelines for Work with Parents - common points Parenting education and support must be rights-based and should

reflect the rights of the child set out in the CRC

parents, whether they are biological or adoptive, must be considered

by the professional as partners in the area of child protection

Support parenting programmes must be considered as a way of

empowering parents‘ competences/skills and never as a way to

replace them and should be conducted in a non-judgemental and not

discriminatory way

Anyone who works with parents should have specific training for

that purpose

Co-ordination among the services working to support a family

should constantly be sought

Conclusions

Great variety among parenting support

programmes across the EU Member States

General acknowledgement that the setting up or

consolidation of parenting policies and programmes

is needed

Most common forms of parenting support are: family

support dimension in the provision of health

services and parental education and

counselling

increasing attention to training and research also

in order to identify replicable best practices

Council of Europe: “the process of ascertaining

the needs of parents has just started and

requires more political attention and priority”

The wish is that this survey may be helpful to provide

more information on this subject, both by making a

review of the most important international

instruments on this issue and by identifying policies,

programmes and interventions carried out by the EU

Member States at national level as well as by

sharing some of the most significant and innovative

experiences in this field.