‘A positive approach to parenting’, looks at the impact being in a ‘strong family’ has on a child’s outcomes and sets out new research showing the benefits of good parenting and why it’s important parents and families are reflected in public policy.
It is based upon existing and new research, which highlights the difficulty in finding and the barriers to taking up local family services.
This is the second Family Review report from the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza. Part 1 was published in September.
This latest report puts forward 23 recommendations for Government to support a more efficient, effective and integrated use of resources to support families. They cover three core objectives – making strong families and explicit and positive aim of public policy, enabling a new focus on the power of parenting and making sure all families can access a holistic support offer in their community.
The recommendations include:
- Creating a new family framework that replaces the existing Family Test to make sure all policy design is family friendly.
- More materials and resources to be made available on the Start for Life website to help with a child’s early learning and supporting parents to ‘kick start’ the process.
- A family hub in every neighbourhood, building on the existing community provision or public services like schools.
- Greater priority within tax and benefit policy for families with children to address the fact that families with children are the group of the population most likely to be in poverty.
- Adopt the NHS number as the consistent unique identifier to be rolled out across education and child protection services.
Dame Rachel de Souza, said, ‘As we approach the end of another challenging year, now is the moment to recognise the phenomenal role that parents play on a daily basis, supporting their children to thrive – both now and in later life.
‘This report confirms what many of us have long felt - that parents and a strong family unit have a huge impact on their children’s outcomes, which can lead to better reading, writing and cognitive skills. That’s why we need to recognise and support parents when they seek help, and services need to match their needs.
‘By doing this, we can support the next generation of children and their parents and change the conversation around what a successful family looks like.’
Minister for women and equalities, and trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch MP commented, ‘As our ground- breaking Inclusive Britain strategy demonstrated, family is the bedrock of society. Strong families ensure children have the love and support to achieve their aspirations.
‘We asked the Children's Commissioner to do an independent review into how we best support families and I am grateful to Dame Rachel de Souza for her work which we will respond to in due course.’
- Part 2 of the Family Review is available here