Children in Wales’ Parents’ Week Conference this year will be around the theme of engaging parents in family and parenting support services.

Family and parenting support services provided by Flying Start, Families First and through other funding streams are increasingly being challenged to extend their reach to vulnerable families. The focus of the event will be on research evidence around engaging families and practical examples of what different areas are doing to successfully engage families. It is hoped that the event will increase delegates understanding and give them the opportunity to consider their own policy and practice alongside sharing experiences and best practice. 

Who should attend?

Professionals providing family and parenting support and anyone with a policy lead or interest in family and parenting support.

Confirmed Speakers:

Alison Prowle, Senior Lecturer Early Childhood, University of Worcester

Alison has extensive experience of early years provision and family interventions as an academic, a front-line Practitioner and a Senior Manager in local government. She began her career as a Primary School Teacher. As integrated Services Manager for Children and Families in Blaenau Gwent, a post held until April 2012, Alison was responsible for managing a range of services for children, young people and families including Early Years and Childcare Services, Flying Start, Integrated Children’s Centres, Parenting provision, Play provision and Education Welfare Services. She also played an active role in the Welsh Government Pioneer phase of the Families First Initiative. Since April 2013 Alison has been teaching and researching in the area of Early Years, Parenting and Families at the Centre for Early Childhood, University of Worcester. She will be talking about importance of readiness for change in delivering parenting interventions for troubled families. 

Lorraine Khan, Associate Director for Children and Young People at the Centre for Mental Health and a Senior Research Fellow – Institute of Psychiatry – Kings College, London

Since 2009, Lorraine and the Centre for Mental Health’s Chief Health Economist have been investigating ways to improve parents’ access to and engagement with evidence based parenting programmes. Positive parenting techniques have a major contribution to make in protecting the life chances of children with early behavioural problems. The Centre for Mental Health has completed a number of reports investigating the cost effectiveness of parenting programmes and the barriers and facilitators shaping the effectiveness of programmes for parents and children in real life settings. Lorraine will be talking about this work as well as some of the follow-up projects supporting frontline practice.

Professor Judy Hutchings OBE, Director of the Centre for Evidence Based Early Intervention (CEBEI), Bangor University

Professor Judy Hutchings has worked in North Wales since 1973, for many years as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, working with children with significant behavioural difficulties. She undertakes research with referred children and their families and early preventive work with parents, children and teachers. She has held grants totalling over £1.5 million and has published extensively. She has lectured and taught internationally including in Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, Poland and Portugal. She will be sharing her insights from 40 years of experience in providing support to parents and children and will be talking about how services can be better joined up to work more effectively with families.

Angela Bourge, Cardiff Council and Andy Senior, Children in Wales

Angela Bourge is employed as an Operational Manager with Cardiff Children’s Services where she has responsibility for Children’s Resources. Angela has a social work background, having worked in Children’s Services for 25 years. She has a passion for family support and a particular interest in parent participation.

Andy Senior has worked in the children and families field in Wales for over 18 years in both the statutory and voluntary sectors, and has a particular interest in project development, outcomes based planning and early intervention and prevention services.

Angela and Andy will be co-presenting the key findings of a recent research project around improving the engagement of the fathers and male carers of children on the Child Protection Register or who are Children in Need.

Jonathan Scourfield, Professor of Social Work at Cardiff University

Jonathan Scourfield has varied research interests, among which are child welfare and social work with men. His books include Gender and Child Protection (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), Working with Men in Health and Social Care (Sage, 2007, with Featherstone and Rivett) and Muslim Childhood (Oxford University Press, 2013, with Gilliat-Ray, Khan and Otri). He is currently researching interventions with fathers as part of a fellowship funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. His presentation will be the findings of a recent UK-wide survey to find out what kind of work is being done with fathers in child and family services.

Lynn McDonald, Professor of Social Work Research, Middlesex University, London

Families and Schools Together (FAST) Programme Developer

Lynn McDonald is a Professor of Social Work Research at Middlesex University and has a doctorate in Psychology. Lynn is the Programme Developer and founder of Families and Schools Together (FAST), which is an award winning evidence based early intervention and prevention programme that has proven effective in enhancing family relationships and building protective factors for children and their families. Lynn will share with delegates some of the messages from the BPS “Technique is Not Enough: A framework for ensuring that evidence-based parenting programmes are socially inclusive” paper which she co-authored. The paper explores how effective parenting programmes can ensure they engage those most likely to benefit: parents on low income and those who are marginalised and socially excluded. She will also explore retention rates of low income minority parents, and the strategies which keep them involved. Lynn will also share her experiences developing and delivering the FAST programme.

Price:

Members: £60                  Non-members: £70

Book online via the Children in Wales website.