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

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 parent families  3% live in stepfamilies

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 The Balance of Parenting

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

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)

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.

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)

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

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

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)