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Funding

The Parenting Fund launched a third funding round in October 2008, This round is a grant fund provided by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (formerly the DfES) of £16 million over two years. It funds projects for a 24-month period starting in April 2009. The application period was from 15 October 2008 to 12 December 2008. Recipients are charities and "not for profit" organisations undertaking parenting support work where parents, families and children face significant challenges. The Parenting Fund is now closed to applications and successfull projects will be funded from April 2009 to March 2011.

Background

The Parenting Fund was set up by the Government's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in 2004 in order to:

• Do more for parents who have been less well served in the past. For example: Black and Ethnic Minority parents, parents with mental health problems, families living with conflict, parents with disabilities or who have children with a disability
• Strengthen the network of services in the voluntary sector that support parents in bringing up their children
• Highlight and promote good practices so that they can be used by all family and parent support services.

In 2004 the DfES allocated £25 million to the Parenting Fund to broaden access to parenting support services. The Fund awarded over £16 million to voluntary and community organisations providing parenting support in England. During the first round over 9,000 children and 32,000 parents received support through projects funded by the Parenting Fund.

In addition, the Parenting Fund consulted stakeholders within the sector and produced a report on developing a parenting support infrastructure. It has also been innovative in supporting organisations build capacity, meeting its objectives of strengthening infrastructure and developing a strategic approach to service provision.

The second round of the Parenting Fund awarded just over £14 million in grants to 131 projects in July 2006. These projects ran from July 2006 to June 2008. Recipients were charities and "not for profit" organisations undertaking parenting support work where parents, families and children face significant challenges. During this round over 56,400 children and 143,800 parents were supported by Parenting Fund projects.