Parentline Plus Oxfordshire
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Project funding
£146,357
Funding round
The Family Nurturing Network has merged with Parentline Plus to become a new regional office known as'ParentlinePlus Oxfordshire'. The organisationstill aimsto improve the mental health of vulnerable parents and children by providing a range of parenting education and family support services in deprived communities in Oxfordshire. We are using the Parenting Fund grant to work with Parentline Plus to develop and pilot a whole family support intervention for parents and their children aged 10-14. This programme is provisionally called The Family Club, but we hope to rename it with the help of parents and children who participate in the pilot!
The programme aims to improve self-esteem in parents and children, to improve emotional literacy in the family and to support the family to develop positive relationships. This should reduce the negative cycles of behaviour in both parents and children. The Family Club will target parents who are finding it very difficult to cope with their children as they enter the transitional pre-teen and early teenage period, particularly if their children's behaviour is damaging family relationships or places them at risk of offending.
The parents' curriculum will be developed using Parentline Plus materials while the children's curriculum will be derived and developed from The Family Nurturing Network's expertise in delivering whole-family programmes in the community. The curriculum for both parents and children is likely to explore identity, self-esteem, emotional awareness, communication skills, problem solving and a whole range of relevant life issues such as sexuality, peer pressure, drugs and alcohol. Parents and children will attend the programme together, but children will be in a different group to the adults. After curriculum design and testing, the programme will be piloted in Oxfordshire.
It is anticipated that a Family Club will benefit up to 14 parents and 7-8 children per programme. The size reflects the high needs of children who are experiencing difficulty in relating to others, concentration at school, disruptive behaviour and low self-esteem.
National implementation of the programme will be promoted by the design of a training programme for programme facilitators. The programme will be made available across the UK through Parentline Plus offices where funding permits, and to other providers under license.