Members’ Exchange Seminar 2007 Supporting Immigrant Parents Belfast, 27 April 2007

1. Members’ Exchange Seminar 2007 Supporting Immigrant Parents Belfast, 27 April 2007 Simten Goren, Hogeschool Amsterdam Henk Dries, Nederlands Jeugdinstituut

3. Families and Children • Age of the mothers at first birth - 29 year • 33% of marriages ends in divorce • 6-10% of children lives in poor households • 1-4% of children engaged in reports on child abuse • 10% of the children live in single parentfamilies • 3% live in stepfamilies

4. The Balance of Parenting • 75 % of parents seeks support (in their own • environment) • 15 % of parents has moderate problems: active • looking for professional support • 5 % of parents experiences serious problems: • searching for help • 2% multi-problem families

5. Governement policy • Modest national policy > local responsibility • Reasonable amount of basic institutions • Minister of Youth & Family • Well baby clinics > well child & family centers • ‘What works’ databank • National legislation: • 5 tasks: detection, info, advice, help, coordination • Entitlement to youth care

6. Responsibility for communities • Centres for Youth and Family: • to inform and advise all parents, children and young • people • to detect developmental and parenting problems at • an early stage • to show the way to support and care • to help parents to parent (selfhelp, training skills, • social support) • to coordinate care (assistance on dayly practice at • home)

7. Parenting Support is: • providing information on development and • upbringing; • organizing self-help and social support around • children and parenting; • giving pedagogical advice and initial pedagogical • assistance; • detecting developmental problems at an early stage • and referring parents to the appropriate agencies.

8. Successful and effective methods • Home-Start: Volunteers offer support, friendship • and practical assistance to families with young • children who are under pressure • Mothers Inform Mothers: For a period of 18 months • after the birth of their first child,mothers are visited at • home once a month by an experienced mother • Home-visiting by Public Health nurses (D. Olds)

9. Successful and effective methods • Parent training in groups: (parenting courses) • Opvoeden en zo! A parent training course • aimed at increasing parenting theory and skills • and at exchanging experiences between parents • of children aged between 3 and 12. • Beter omgaan met pubers: A similar training is • developed for parents of 12–18-year-olds

10. Triple P in The Netherlands The Triple P-Positive Parenting Program is a multi-level, parenting and family support strategy.  Triple P aims to prevent behavioral, emotional and developmental problems in children by enhancing the knowledge, skills and confidence of parents. Triple P incorporates five levels of intervention of increasing strength for parents of children from birth to age 16. This program has been chosen as evidenced-base program for the implementation in Holland

11. Opstapje & Opstap • General objective is to prepare children adequately for • the basic level needed in primary schools • facilitate transition from home to elementary, from home and elementary to primary school • for 2-4 and 4-6 years old with disadvantaged backgrounds • Programme aims: • stimulating mother-child interaction • stimulate language and cognitive development as • well as social development (till the level Dutch • primary school expects the child to have)