TY - JOUR
T1 - Parents, parenting and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Findings from an Evaluation of the Early Intervention Support Service in Northern Ireland
AU - Winter, Karen
AU - Neeson, Laura
AU - Sweet, Daryl
AU - Connolly, Paul
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - The provision of support services to families is a legal obligation and fundamental in the recognition of the role and responsibilities of parents, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (UN, 1989). Through the lens of its obligations (UN, 1989), this article reports the findings of a study that explores parental experiences of a newly designed non-statutory family support service in Northern Ireland. Known as the Early Intervention Support Service (EISS), the service aims to deliver a targeted, flexible and time limited service to families to strengthen parenting capacity and to help prevent deterioration in emergent problems. Illustrated by findings from the study, this article argues that in its design and delivery, the EISS, premised on a multi-faceted understanding of support, represents a model that respects parents’ responsibilities, rights and duties through its attention to parental engagement at all stages in the design, delivery and evaluation of the service. Using its provisions as an indicator to track parental engagement and parental experience of the services, it is argued that the principles of the Convention should underpin the design, delivery and evaluation of family support services more broadly and more explicitly.
AB - The provision of support services to families is a legal obligation and fundamental in the recognition of the role and responsibilities of parents, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (UN, 1989). Through the lens of its obligations (UN, 1989), this article reports the findings of a study that explores parental experiences of a newly designed non-statutory family support service in Northern Ireland. Known as the Early Intervention Support Service (EISS), the service aims to deliver a targeted, flexible and time limited service to families to strengthen parenting capacity and to help prevent deterioration in emergent problems. Illustrated by findings from the study, this article argues that in its design and delivery, the EISS, premised on a multi-faceted understanding of support, represents a model that respects parents’ responsibilities, rights and duties through its attention to parental engagement at all stages in the design, delivery and evaluation of the service. Using its provisions as an indicator to track parental engagement and parental experience of the services, it is argued that the principles of the Convention should underpin the design, delivery and evaluation of family support services more broadly and more explicitly.
KW - UNCRC
KW - parents and parenting
M3 - Article
SN - 0045-3102
SP - 1
EP - 26
JO - British Journal of Social Work
JF - British Journal of Social Work
ER -