Family and Parenting Support

Concerns about the conditions and practices of child-rearing, and factors relating to children’s wellbeing and development, are leading to a growth of measures oriented to family support and parenting support. In some cases this involves the introduction of new policies and provisions; in others it involves a re-orientation or reframing of existing policies.
Family support and parenting support vary widely in practice. In some regions of the world, for example in South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, systematic, government-led support initiatives are rare. Regions where support seems to be developing strongly include Europe, the Central and Eastern European and Commonwealth of Independent States regions, Latin America and a few countries in Africa and Asia. Countries vary in the emphasis they give to one form of support over another. The evidence suggests that, where it exists, family support is being developed in two main forms, through: services – especially social, health and psychological services to families : the establishment or re-orientation of economic support to families, especially cash payments.
Parenting support, on the other hand, is primarily focused on imparting information, education, skills and support to parents in the form of health-related interventions for parents and young children, and educational support on child development and childrearing for parents. While parenting support is much broader than educational parenting programmes, the latter play an important role and are one of the main ways in which parenting support is being developed within and across countries.