West Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and Barnardo's work together in Bradford to provide parenting programmes to fathers on community orders or supervision following a custodial sentence.
Background Barnardo's Parenting Team were commissioned to deliver a parenting group to fathers on community orders or supervision within the West Yorkshire CRC. This followed the success of an initial pilot and took place over 8 weeks in spring 2015. Offender Managers identified a number of fathers to attend an informal introductory session where they met with Barnardo's Parenting Team workers and discussed whether the programme was right for them. For those who signed up, attendance would count against their instructed hours. Common factors among the attendees were identified: all disclosed or had records of domestic violence, and many had experienced issues relating to addiction (their own and their parents'), bereavement, and a lack of education. A consideration of intergenerational cycles of violence and abuse underpinned the development of the programme.
Programme content Triple P is an evidence-based behaviour management parenting programme. It draws on social learning, cognitive behavioural and developmental theory, as well as research into risk factors associated with the development of social and behavioural problems in children. It aims to equip parents with the skills and confidence they need to be self-sufficient in managing family issues, and the ability to consider the impact of their behaviour on their children. Some examples of topics covered include: What is a Dad?, Boundaries & Consequences, Positive Praise. Aftercare was offered in the form of one-to-one phone support following assessment and the chance to sign up for a life coaching course, which two men completed.
Outcomes Participants completed the Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff, and Acker (1993) Parenting Style Questionnaire (PSQ) at the beginning and the end of the course. This tool is designed to measure dysfunctional discipline practices in parents. Following completion of the course, dysfunctional discipline practices had reduced on the whole, apart from over-reactivity which had increased. Workers indicated this increase could have been a result of fathers becoming more aware of their parenting capacity, therefore more likely to respond to situations, practising what they had learnt on the course. The results indicated that there had been positive changes in the fathers' thinking and approaches to parenting whether or not they had current contact with their children. West Yorkshire CRC carried out their own in-house outcomes assessment. Though this showed a drop in the fathers' perceived parenting capacity, this is arguably expected as paticipants become more aware of what is involved in parenting and re-evaluate their past approaches. A range of positive feedback was gathered directly from the fathers who expressed how much they'd learnt and how supportive staff had been.
Challenges associated with the programme Fostering a new way of thinking among adult-focussed Probation workers; Raising awareness of the effects of offending on children and thus the importance of the programme.
What contributed to its success? Some staff had prior experience working within Probation and so were able to foster working links quickly. A Probation worker attended the programme so Barnardo's workers didn't have to get involved with any cases of breach etc. Practitioners were able, importantly, to make positive challenges to participants who didn't initially have awareness of the effect of their offending on the children in their lives. Programme organisers commented that the men relished the opportunity to practice parenting skills in their 'real parenting world' through the gate. Successful joint-working between a children's charity and Probation, with programme staff 'up-skilling' and building knowledge of statutory services.
