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Protecting children through supporting parents

Protecting children through supporting parents All parents need social and emotional support to ensure optimal outcomes for children. For the majority of families, this support comes through family and social networks and the institutions of education and health. The challenge for society is to protect and assist parents and children when things are going wrong. Although there are known indicators for risk, it can be hard to be sure of when and how to intervene in family life to protect children and support parents. Such interventions may have to be made in relation to episodic events, for example a recurrence of a depression in one of the parents, and in the face of continuing difficulties, for example poverty or social exclusion.This paper examines two, quite different, challenges for professionals trying to support parents. First, it makes some suggestions about how it is that professionals can fail to recognise signs of child maltreatment. The identification of child maltreatment is critical in taking appropriate steps to protect children. Second, it considers the complexity of the task of supporting parents, including whether support should be based on the parents views about services that they would like, or on professional and policy‐makers judgements about how to meet the parents' needs. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Public Mental Health Emerald Publishing

Protecting children through supporting parents

Journal of Public Mental Health , Volume 8 (4): 7 – Dec 11, 2009

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References (18)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1746-5729
DOI
10.1108/17465729200900023
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

All parents need social and emotional support to ensure optimal outcomes for children. For the majority of families, this support comes through family and social networks and the institutions of education and health. The challenge for society is to protect and assist parents and children when things are going wrong. Although there are known indicators for risk, it can be hard to be sure of when and how to intervene in family life to protect children and support parents. Such interventions may have to be made in relation to episodic events, for example a recurrence of a depression in one of the parents, and in the face of continuing difficulties, for example poverty or social exclusion.This paper examines two, quite different, challenges for professionals trying to support parents. First, it makes some suggestions about how it is that professionals can fail to recognise signs of child maltreatment. The identification of child maltreatment is critical in taking appropriate steps to protect children. Second, it considers the complexity of the task of supporting parents, including whether support should be based on the parents views about services that they would like, or on professional and policy‐makers judgements about how to meet the parents' needs.

Journal

Journal of Public Mental HealthEmerald Publishing

Published: Dec 11, 2009

Keywords: Supporting parents; Child maltreatment; Systems approach

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