Introduction
The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that every child has the best possible start in life. The quality of care from their parents shapes all aspects of children's growth and development. Most parents want the best and try to do their best for their children. Most parents do a great job. But parenting in 21 st century Scotland is a complex and demanding task. All parents need access to good information, advice and support from professionals and public services. Families with children who are vulnerable or in trouble may need extra support to help them tackle their children's difficulties effectively.
The vast majority of parents, when offered appropriate support will take up that support. In a small minority of cases parents are unwilling to do so for a variety of reasons The Scottish Executive is determined to make sure that vulnerable children are not further disadvantaged by their parent's failure to accept support. Scottish Ministers have introduced parenting orders to oblige some parents to take full responsibility for their children and take whatever action is needed to help them resolve their difficulties.
This Framework provides advice for local authorities, Children's Panel members and Reporters, and partner agencies on working with parents to improve their parenting, and describes where parenting orders fit into a continuum of services which spans voluntary support and compulsory measures. It complements advice and guidance issued by the Scottish Executive in April 2005, to assist the operation of a three year national pilot of parenting orders. 1
Policy context
Scottish Ministers have set out a vision in which Scotland's children have the help they need to become confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners and responsible citizens. This vision for children and young people should guide the design and delivery of support for children and their families to help realise their full potential.
To achieve our vision, children need to be:
Safe: Children and young people should be protected from abuse, neglect and harm by others at home, at school and in the community.
Nurtured: Children and young people should live within a supportive family setting, with additional assistance if required, or, where there is not possible, within another caring setting, ensuring a positive and rewarding childhood experience.
Healthy: Children and young people should enjoy the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health, with access to suitable healthcare and support for safe and healthy lifestyle choices.
Achieving: Children and young people should have access to positive learning environments and opportunities to develop their skills, confidence and self esteem to the fullest potential.
Active: Children and young people should be active with opportunities and encouragement to participate in play and recreation, including sport.
Respected and responsible: Children and young people and their carers should be involved in decisions that affect them, should have their voices heard and should be encouraged to play an active and responsible role in their communities.
Included: Children, young people and their carers should have access to high quality services, when required, and should be assisted to overcome the social, educational, physical, environmental and economic barriers that create inequality.
Following a national review of the Children's Hearings, the Scottish Executive published a consultation paper, Getting it right for every child2 setting out proposals to improve services for all children. These include:
- legislative reforms to strengthen co-operation between professionals and agencies so that children receive coordinated support which delivers the help they need, when they need it;
- a single integrated assessment, planning and recording tool for use within a new framework of inter-agency communication to replace separate systems for child protection, looked-after children, youth justice and other inter-agency arrangements;
- an agreed action plan for every child with complex or serious needs, or in need of protection or compulsory measures of supervision
- appointment of a lead professional to co-ordinate inter-agency planning and action on the child's behalf;
- requiring agencies to help children and families to tackle difficulties early. Children's Hearings should focus only on children who really need compulsory measures of supervision;
- improving information to the public so that they have greater confidence in the Children's Hearings and children's services.
Strengthening support for parents of vulnerable children and children in difficulties should be set squarely within the context of this wider policy agenda to improve children's services. Services to support good parenting and to implement parenting orders will play an important part in turning these proposals into action.
Parents should have ready access to a range of services which offer help tailored to their particular needs and difficulties. Agencies should actively take responsibility for meeting a family's needs for information, advice and support at the point of first contact. Where an agency cannot resolve a problem, they should work with others to ensure the child has the help they need when they need it.
Objectives of the Framework
There is an extensive network of parenting support services in place throughout Scotland. A survey of Scottish parenting support identified over 800 projects and services providing a wide range of information, advice and help for parents. Nevertheless, access to comprehensive services in every locality remains patchy. 3
This Framework is designed to promote a strategic and co-ordinated approach to parenting support in each local authority area to underpin the implementation of parenting orders. All agencies working with children, or adults who are parents, have a part to play in supporting parenting. Rather than create a new tier of separate services for parents, local authorities should build on the full range of information, advice and help for parents already available in the statutory and voluntary sector. A key objective of the Framework is to change practice in all children's services to enable parents to engage with professionals in health, education and social work services, and make better use of the support these services can provide.
Families need support not just when difficulties occur, but throughout childhood and adolescence, particularly at points of transition in children's lives. Support will range from information and advice through routine contact with services for all children and families such as schools and GP surgeries, to more specialist services for families with complex or serious difficulties such as social work or psychological services, depending on the nature and extent of children's needs.
The Scottish Executive has earmarked £7m in 2004-2008 to help local authorities and their partners strengthen support for parents throughout the Scottish pilot of parenting orders. The Youth Crime Prevention Fund will also continue until 2008 its investment in parenting and family support projects designed to tackle early behavioural difficulties.
Targeting parents, focusing on children
The new parenting order is targeted at changing a parent's behaviour to safeguard children's welfare or to address concerns about children's behaviour. Parenting orders are designed to ensure that parents make use of the help available to them so that they are better equipped to meet their parental responsibilities, no matter what personal difficulties a parent may face. Any application for a parenting order must be based on a clear assessment of the child's needs, how a parent's actions or failure to act contributes to the child's difficulties and what the parent must to do to bring about improvement.
The national review and audit of child protection indicated that too often professionals' efforts were directed towards meeting the requirements of different administrative systems rather than the real needs of children. Applying for a parenting order is not, in itself, an action to safeguard a child's welfare or address their behaviour. The order is only a means of enforcing parental action where all attempts at voluntary persuasion have failed.
A Parenting Order will not make a difference, unless it leads to
- effective action by parents to tackle family difficulties, including any offending by their child, and
- effective engagement by agencies to enable parents take up appropriate help.
The Framework has four sections:
Part 1 describes the range of children's needs that parents must meet if children are to thrive and achieve their full potential, and sets out agencies' role in assessing need and developing action plans for family support.
Part 2 sets out the characteristics of good quality services and advice for agencies about providing effective support for families.
Part 3 explains how the parenting order fits into a continuum of parenting support, and its use to enforce parental compliance when all strategies to bring about voluntary co-operation have failed.
Part 4 provides advice on how to equip organisations to meet families' needs for support effectively. Agencies need to plan and work together, and put in place skilled and well supported staff and good arrangements for quality assurance.
Within this Framework 'parenting support' refers to help given to, or needed by, any person who looks after a child or young person in a parental capacity, including birth parents whether or not they live with the child, grandparents, or other relatives, step parents, and any substitute carers. Such help may give parents knowledge and skills to improve their care of children, or address parents' own personal or relationship difficulties with a view to reducing stress and enabling them to better meet their child's needs.