Welcome to May's issue of the Family and Parenting Institute's newsletter – Family Focus. To Welcome to May's issue of the Family and Parenting Institute's newsletter – Family Focus. To subscribe to this newsletter click here

1. News
2. Family Policy Digest
3. Horizon scan
4. Forward look
5. Notice board
5. Consultations

 

1. News

Mental health – children and parents…

Two new reports, a survey and a consultation have been launched recently looking at the mental health of children and parents.

  • the factors that affect parents' and children's ability to deal with parents' mental health problems (SCIE)
  • promoting children's social and emotional wellbeing in primary education (NICE)
  • a new survey showing that attitudes to mental health remain broadly sympathetic (DH)
  • how universal, targeted and specialist services can be improved to meet the needs of children and young people who are experiencing, or are at risk of, mental health problems (CAMHS)

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Domestic violence

The Government is to introduce more than 30 new Specialist Domestic Violence Court systems(SDVCs) in England and Wales. The SDVCs have magistrates who are specially trained in dealing with domestic violence cases and provisions in courts that stop victims coming into contact with their attackers i.e. separate entrances, exits and waiting areas.

Two new reports published this month discuss these issues –

Making the Grade? 2007: The third annual independent analysis of UK Government initiatives on violence against women
End Violence against Women
And
Hard knock life. Violence against women: a guide for donors and funders
J Jarvinen, Kail, A. and I Miller; New Philanthropy Capital
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Siblings

70 academics and practitioners attended the Family and Parenting seminar to hear the wide range of research perspectives on siblings.
A publication which brings together all of the research and presentations from this event will be available later this year.

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Grandparents

Monthly childcare duties amount to the equivalent of a week's full time work for more than half of the country's grandparents. That's according to research from Saga which also revealed that, on average, looking after their children's children costs grandparents over £10 per child each day. But only 1% of them receive money for doing so.

More than half of grandparents think parents should be able to claim benefits for childcare when they look after their grandchildren.
Image: Images/arrow_blue_small.gifSaga

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Family Policy Digest

This month's digest includes new consultations and reviews on play, CAMHS and the impact of the commercial world on children's lives. There are also publications from DCSF setting out the next steps of the Children's Plan and plans for the children's workforce.
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Horizon Scan

Evaluation of the Children in Trouble Projects

The Local Government Association and Howard League for Penal Reform are testing the benefits of community sentences as alternatives to custody by piloting work with local authorities and their partners. The National Foundation for Educational Research has been asked to evaluate the impact of the pilots over a two-year period, starting in May 2007 with an interim report due in June 2008.

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Child's Eye Media campaign - Safer Strangers, Safer Buildings

The Safer Strangers, Safer Buildings initiative has been piloted in the North West by Greater Manchester Police Officer Helena Hodgson, and is backed by charities in the field of child safety.This campaign, which features a video aimed at the very young, has been designed to help children to identify adults who would be able to help them and also places to go in an emergency.
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Youth Alcohol Action Plan

The Children's Plan states that a youth alcohol action plan is to be published in Spring 2008, to improve alcohol education in schools and consider the case for further action on alcohol advertising and drinking in public places. An FPI overview of the Children's Plan is available on our website
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New Deal for Carers

The Government aims to publish the results of the New Deal for Carers in Spring 2008 with the views from the stakeholders' consultation providing an evidence base for the Carers' strategy.
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Forward look

Check here for upcoming events in the family and parenting world. Please let us know of your forthcoming events so we can include them.
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Notice board

Supporting parents to engage in their child's early learning

Coordinated by the Family and Parenting Institute, the Early Learning Partnership project, involved a total of seven charities and their partners working together to see how best early learning for one to three years olds can be encouraged in the home .This new DCSF briefing paper to commissioners, provides evidence from the project, showing why programmes supporting parental engagement in their young children's learning and development should be prioritised.
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Call for papers – Parent Child 2008

We are now inviting offers of papers from researchers, practitioners, policy analysts and voluntary organisations for our "Getting it right for families" conference Thursday 13 and Friday 14 November 2008.The closing date for the receipt of abstracts is 30 May 2008.
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Consultations

Statutory Guidance for Children's Trusts on the Duty to Cooperate: consultation

This guidance on inter-agency co-operation, issued under section 10 of the Children Act 2004, reflects the experience of developing Children's Trust arrangements since the publication of Every Child Matters. The guidance supplements the Statutory Guidance on inter-agency cooperation to improve wellbeing of children: children's trusts (2005).
Deadline: 26 June 2008
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and
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Assessing the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing - a call for evidence

Contributions have been invited to Professor David Buckingham's review of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. Key questions include:

  • The size of the market for children's products and trends in children's commercial world.
  • What evidence exists about the balance of benefit and harm to children's outcomes, as defined by Every Child Matters?
  • Are parents and children worried about increasing commercial pressures?
  • What do children and parents enjoy about engaging with the commercial world?

Deadline: 30 June 2008
Image: Images/arrow_blue_small.gifDCSF

The CAMHS Review - Next Steps to Improving the Emotional Well-Being and Mental Health of Children and Young People. Call for Evidence

The independent review of CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) will investigate how universal, targeted and specialist services can be improved to meet the needs of children and young people who are experiencing, or are at risk of, mental health problems. This consultation calls for evidence from all individuals, organisations and groups.
Deadline: 7 July 2008
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Suzie Peleg Information and Website Manager
www.familyandparenting.org

May 2008
Current subscribers –12245

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Last updated: 13th June 2008 at 12:06:17