Support for All

Government’s recent green paper titled Support for All: the Families and Relationship Green paper sets out its plans for family support.

With a general election looming this paper is what families could expect if Labour win the next election. It contains six questions on which it would like to consult (and presumably the results of that consultation will help Labour to work out which pledges would play well in a general election campaign and which should be buried and never mentioned again).

So what does labour have on offer for families and is it what families want? Here are the questions they are asking:

Question one: What more can we do to help create a culture in which seeking help for relationship or parenting problems, or other family difficulties, is considered socially acceptable?

Question two: Which issues should be prioritised by Government in seeking to strengthen families and support family relationships in this country?

Question three: Which services need the most urgent development to make them truly family-friendly?

Question four: Do you consider that compulsory mediation assessment would improve the take-up of mediation in family law cases, and what more could be done to improve the take-up of family mediation as an alternative to court action?

Question five: How far does the need to seek leave of court act as a barrier to prevent extended family members applying for contact with a child? Is there a need to remove this requirement for some other family members, beyond grandparents? (Note: Parents are already exempt.)

Question six: Would a comprehensive advice service on family issues based on the successful models like NHS Direct and the NHS Carers Direct service make it easier for families to find the help they need? This could consist of a national online service coupled with a single telephone number.

Parent Focus is planning to submit a response to the green paper consultation alongside lots of other organsitions with a similar (and sometimes vested) interest. But we would like to know what you think to these questions so that our response includes real parents views and real life information from front line workers.

Do parents really need a helpline advice service based on an NHS model? Is parenting really comparable to illness? Is it actually necessary to spend millions on a helpline to teach parents something that until recently was regarded as the most naturally instinctive role in the world. Perhaps it is. Or perhaps the challenge is making sure that services understand the needs of parents and make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy and fulfil their parenting role. Anyone who has visited a housing office recently will know that the experience is enough to sap any energy from even most patient nuturing parent leaving little in reserve to cope with even moderate demands from a toddler. Would a helpline sort that out? We’re not sure but we’d like to hear your view.

To leave a comment please go to either the parent or professional discussion and join in. The full green paper is available to download from the discussion area.