EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 ('the 2004 Act') made provision for Parenting Orders (' POs') across Scotland as part of a three year national evaluated pilot intended to focus on systems and practice for the operation of POs. Parenting Orders introduced, for the first time, the potential for compulsory measures over parents and were designed to support those who refused to engage with voluntary support services to improve their parenting where this was considered seriously deficient.
2. No POs were applied for during the life of the research (April 2005 to August 2007). Findings from the research do, however, show a clear and consistent philosophy within local authorities (' LAs') regarding the use of compulsion in dealing with vulnerable children and their families.
3. The research suggests that LAs and Community Health Partnerships (' CHPs') attempt to promote voluntary engagement and co-operation with parents with compulsion only as a last resort measure. The evidence from this study would suggest that while, hypothetically, many considered that POs may have a place in assisting their work, the primary means of compulsion, and one considered likely to be most effective, was compulsion over the child through the Children's Hearings system.
4. Respondents suggested that the greatest impact on lack of engagement by parents was related to service inadequacies, parental confidence and structural factors that would not be overcome by compulsion. There is no practice experience, as yet, in Scotland to indicate that compulsion over parents through POs would make a notable difference in difficult cases.
5. In the absence of POs the study focused on:
- An examination of strategic approaches to the provision of parenting support and services taken across Scotland;
- Obtaining information on the provision of parenting support and services, as currently operated in Scotland, via interviews with relevant social work and education personnel from LAs, and health personnel from CHPs; and
- Analysing findings from the mapping of parenting services requested of each LA by the Scottish Executive.
6. A literature review (MacQueen et al, forthcoming) on parenting support and services was also completed and is being published separately by the Scottish Executive. The methodologies addressing the 3 areas covered by the study are discussed at relevant points below.
Strategic Approaches to Parenting Support
7. Fourteen Community Health Partnerships were covered by the study. None had a fully developed strategy for the provision of parenting/family support services. Health professionals were, however, working within the 'Hall 4' framework that provides a consistent, systematic and staged approach to the provision of family support.
8. Developments in strategic planning of parenting support and services were examined in a sample of 18 LAs. All were at different stages of development. Two had made little progress since the inception of the legislation and a further 13 were in the process of or still considering developing a strategic approach. Three LAs had made considerable progress in drafting a parenting support strategy. These were examined in some depth using a conceptual framework developed from the literature review of parenting support and services.
9. All three of the developed parenting support strategies were the product of multi-agency work, and two had begun to stage services according to levels of need. None had fully developed a baseline of need or provided a staged model of service provision according to the age and developmental needs of children. Key target groups for services were only loosely defined in each of the three strategies. None provided entry or exit criteria to different tiers of provision or the use of follow-up and maintenance work with families.
10. In two of the developed strategies, services were weighted towards the use of centre or institution-based rather than in-home provision. Both of these strategies were lacking structured, intensive family work for parents considered at high need/risk. At the lower need/risk levels, models of provision included a number of appropriate methods of service delivery including simple advice and support to parents on a voluntary, informal basis. One LA outlined within its strategy document an 'ideal' model of provision to work towards. This incorporated many of the methods identified in the research literature on 'what works?' although this model was also notably lacking in the provision of home-based support and services.
11. The evaluation found that none of the authorities studied yet provide a model of best practice that could be promoted as a template or exemplar for strategic planning. However, a few authorities are on their way to shaping their strategies in ways that recognise the different needs presented by families depending on their level of vulnerability, the kinds of difficulties presented by children and parents and differentiated by age across the life course.
Interviews with Practitioners
12. Relevant personnel were interviewed from 21 LA social work departments, 10 LA education departments and 14 CHPs; a total of 85 interviewees were involved. Availability of services varied widely between each LA and CHP area, with the main gap reported as the provision for early intervention or preventative work. More structured approaches were reported as generally only available where levels of need and/or risk were considered high.
13. The evaluation suggests that procedures and protocols relating to child protection practice are better developed across Scotland than any other formal approaches to family intervention identified in the interviews. Although multi-agency work was reported as common in many areas, inter-agency communication regarding individual cases was often reported as being patchy at times.
14. Engaging families with services was not viewed as a major problem for practitioners. The level and success of engagement was reported as dependent on many variables and likely to fluctuate throughout the life of a case. Factors considered by respondents to impact on engagement included inadequacies in service provision, low levels of self-esteem and confidence among parents, and wider social factors such as social isolation and deprivation. It was also stressed by many respondents that parenting issues extended across all socio-economic classes.
15. Respondents' views were fairly consistent that the PO legislation was well intentioned, possibly useful but largely misguided; the primary concern was that compulsion was unlikely to facilitate genuine engagement or change. Greater concern was expressed about current resource levels for providing the intensive service required to support a PO. Respondents suggested that a consistent and universal approach was needed towards parenting education, perhaps with courses or similar approaches being added to the national schools' curriculum.
Mapping of Services
16. Responses to the mapping exercise were received from 27 of the 32 LAs in Scotland. The mapping submissions varied widely, with returns recording anywhere from 1 to 52 parenting services as being available. The format of the mapping template, provided by the Scottish Executive during the development process prior to implementation of POs, was cited as one potential reason for this variation. In the end, information was gathered on 381 services across Scotland which were providing some form of parenting service or support.
17. Two-thirds of these services reported being able to provide intensive support, with a high ratio of staff to clients, while 47% offered crisis support and 43% group work. A focus on parenting skills/training or offering support/advice on parenting issues, were the most common methods of service delivery recorded in the exercise (both at 68%). This was followed by home visits from professionals (58%) and peer support (45%). Individual work was offered by 34% of services, while preventative and group work approaches were offered by 30% of services.
18. 'Parents and family' was the most common target group or category for services (43%), with homeless families (3%) and travellers (1%) being the least well served. Around one-third of services (36%) were offered on a 'universal' basis. The most common service providers were social work services (35%), voluntary organisations (30%) and education (29%).
Conclusions
19. There was strong evidence from the research of a multidisciplinary approach to strategic planning in most authorities studied. The evidence at this stage is less convincing that the delivery is multi-disciplinary or co-ordinated although there were some good examples of attempts at multidisciplinary approaches with high-risk adolescents.
20. No authorities have yet refined their practice method requirements or matched these to specific criteria in order to ensure a 'best fit' against baseline data on capacity requirements and the need profile of families in their communities.
21. It seems reasonable to conclude, in the context of all findings presented in this report, that although strategic planning and service development has still some way to go, in terms of the range of services available, there is a reasonable basis to build on.
22. The legislation and policy direction has given a major impetus to planning for parenting services across Scotland. This is a complex challenge and requires a continuous improvement approach to allow time for strategies to incorporate new elements as they develop (such as the additional dimensions of age against stage, to match appropriate 'methods' to the different tiers) and to take account of issues highlighted in effectiveness research on duration, sequencing and intensity of provision which should increase with increased levels of vulnerability and risk.