Media enquiries should be directed to Emma Brennan, Press & PR Officer Contact :
t: 020 7424 3460
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e: press@familyandparenting.org  Icon: Email address

New study from DPPI on the lack of information about choices and services for disabled parents-to-be
Newsflash: 21st Century Schools - 30 June 2009
New blue print for public services – 29 June 2009
Families and the recession - 10 June 2009
National Family Week - 25 May 2009
No improvements in child poverty - 13 May 2009
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill 2008-09 – House of Commons Committee - 5 March 2009
The State and the Family: Supporting Relationships – time for a rethink?
New study on commercialisation
Nursery World Awards 2008

New study from DPPI on the lack of information about choices and services for disabled parents-to-be
A UK study on physically disabled parents' experiences of maternity services reveals that physically disabled people embarking on parenthood face a number of challenges in getting appropriate information and support, including negative attitudes from some health professionals, a lack of knowledge and information available for both parents and professionals, as well as poor communication between disabled parents and professionals.

Newsflash: 21st Century Schools

- 30 June 2009

21st Century Schools will need to know how and when to engage positively with parents. The Government's new White Paper on schools is expected to emphasise that parental engagement in education helps children learn and thrive. Read our press release

The Family and Parenting Institute has trialled parental engagement in schools for seven years. We offer knowhow on how to make positive links with parents that deliver results for children. What works for one school in one community won't work in every school. Our latest report on school-parent partnerships by Anne Page identifies five models that schools have adopted and that we know can work well, whether it's employing a school-parent link worker in every school or running a consultation event open to all parents when their children start at a new school.

Check out our resources here:

New blue print for public services

– 29 June 2009

The Family and Parenting Institute warmly welcomes the replacement of targets with citizen's rights under the Government's new blue print for public services announced today. The reform was recommended in the Institute's discussion paper The Contractual Culture and Family Services published in 2007. It's author Clem Henricson commented:

"I am absolutely delighted to see the Government promote a shift in power relations from central management to citizens with rights and entitlements. Entitlements provide an opportunity to embed service standards now and into the future. It is a real chance to build some strong leverage into the system."

Families and the recession

- 10 June 2009

Relate and Parentline Plus have each released new reports on how the recession is affecting family life and the strain money worries are putting on relationships.
Relate found that a quarter of families are arguing more because of the recession. This follows on from the Family and Parenting Institute's research last year which showed that 29% of families were rowing over financial matters.

One in five parents told Parentline Plus they were spending less time with their family because they had to work more to make ends meet with 10% parents saying they thought money worries were threatening their relationship.

 

National Family Week

- 25 May 2009

The Family and Parenting Institute is pleased to support National Family Week which takes place from Monday 25 to Friday 31 May 2009.

Mary MacLeod, Chief Executive of the Family and Parenting Institute said: "Most people say that their families are the most important part of their lives. Contrary to the myths, families like to spend time together but tell us that the cost of leisure activities can make this hard. So we hope National Family Week will be a vehicle for loads of free opportunities for families to have fun and enjoy themselves together."

We have loads of information for parents from how to save money and manage the family budget, to healthy eating and tackling temper tantrums.

Find out more about our information for parents here

No improvements in child poverty

- 13 May 2009

Again, there has been no improvement in the number of UK children in poverty, according to the latest Households Below Average Income (HBAI) figures which were released on Thursday May 7 2009. www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbai.asp

This means that the Government is falling further behind on its pledge to halve child poverty by 2010 and end it by 2020.

In the early years of this decade, both the percentage of UK children living in poverty and the absolute numbers fell. Over the past few years, however, progress has stalled. These latest figures relate to 2007/08, so do not show the impact of the current recession.

Carena Rogers, Policy Adviser at the Family and Parenting Institute said: "It is disappointing that we are no further towards reaching the Government's targets to tackle child poverty. It is not just parents who are out of work that are in poverty, some parents who work but earn low wages are also struggling and many find themselves in poverty."

You can view Family and Parenting Institute's response to the Government's consultation on child poverty here.

 

 

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill 2008-09 – House of Commons Committee

- 5 March 2009

This Bill makes provision about apprenticeships, education, training and children's services amongst others provisions. Clem Henricson, Director of Research and Policy and Deputy Director of FPI was summoned by the Public Bill Committee examining this Bill to give evidence on proposed changes to children's services and schools' complaints procedures for parents.
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmpublic/appren/090305/pm/90305s04.htm

The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill proposes putting Children's Trusts Boards on a statutory footing with a duty to prepare and implement Children and Young People's Plans. In addition it imposes a new requirement on local authorities to include arrangements for sufficient provision of children's centres to meet local need.

The Bill also proposes that the Secretary of State's role in schools complaints will be replaced by a new parents' and young person's independent complaints service (referred to in clauses as the Local Commissioner).

The State and the Family: Supporting Relationships – time for a rethink?

22 December 2008
Mary MacLeod was a plenary speaker at the government relationship summit held on 18 December 08.
The overall aim of the summit was to help develop the Government's relationship support strategy and to enable attendees at the Summit to contribute to this process. Ed Balls started the session by setting out the Government's vision for relationship support as part of wider family policy.
Download Mary MacLeod's speech here

New study on commercialisation

The Family and Parenting Institute will be releasing a new report on commercialisation in the next few weeks called 'Business Think Family'.

The study, written by Professor of Marketing Dr Agnes Nairn, looks at how children are targeted by commercial advertising. In particular, it addresses some of the problems online advertising can create for parents including how children often know more about the web than their parents.

The report argues that some companies' advertising practices go against current legislation and regulation.

It makes recommendations on how businesses could be more responsible with their advertising. And it looks at things that have worked well in the US and Europe and questions whether similar initiatives could be equally successful here.

More details and a download version will be available soon.

To request a copy of the report please email press@familyandparenting.org

 

Nursery World Awards 2008

The Family and Parenting Institute was the proud sponsor of the 'Working with parents' category of the 2008 Nursery World Awards.

The winner was 'Stoke Speaks Out' a project which works with parents to increase the bond between them and their child as a way to tackle the causes and effects of speech and language delay.

The project organised parent-run toddler groups. Playworkers trained parents on how to manage the groups themselves. Parents were encouraged to play actively with their children. It improved outcomes for children by giving parents more confidence.

Last updated: 2nd July 2009 at 01:07:12