Shirley Stephenson

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Shirley Stephenson
Northern Programme Director Family Links
Happier Foster Families Reaching the Hard to
Reach
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Introducing

• Family Links
• Forward Specialist Training and Counselling Ltd
• Careforward Fostering Agency

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Foster carers wanted
Being Fostered (Office of the Childrens Rights
Director, 2005)

• To see children happy
• To see positive changes in the child
• To see Children becoming part of the family and
  developing trust
• Not to feel unsupported, stressed or short of
  money

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Looked after Children outcomes

• Only 11 achieve 5 grade A - C GCSEs
• Over 30 of children in care are not in
  education, employment or training at age 19
• Young women aged 15-17 in care are 3 times more
  likely to be mothers
• Can Foster Care change these outcomes?

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The Nurturing Programme enables people to lead
satisfying lives and to be resilient in the face
of lifes difficultiesto be emotionally healthy
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The Four Constructs
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Family Links Training

• Parent Group Leaders/Trainers
• Schools
• Early Years
• Childrens Centre teams

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The Nurturing Programme for Parents and
Professionals

• Family / Classroom rules
• Praise and criticism
• Time outto calm down
• Personal power, choices and consequences
• Feelings and what we do with them
• Anger and how to deal with it
• Communicating clearly I statements

• Kinds of touch and nurturing ourselves
• Ages and stages in childrens development
• Issues around sex helping children stay safe
• Behaviour to ignore
• Problem-solving and negotiation

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Praise and Criticism
When someone praises me, I feel .. When
someone criticises me, I feel ..
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When someone criticises me, I feel
Resentful Unloved Depressed Tearful
Angry No good Lonely I
want revenge Stupid Inadequate Ashamed
Like giving up Frustrated Sad Small

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When someone praises me, I feel
Ready for anything Proud Glad A bit
suspicious Energetic Happy Like
being generous Confident Capable Embarrasse
d Valued Manipulated Delighted H
ealthy Worthwhile
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• When I am praised I feel When I am criticised I
  feel
• Ready for anything Resentful
• Proud Unloved
• Glad Depressed
• A bit suspicious Tearful
• Energetic Angry
• Happy No good
• Like being generous Lonely
• Confident I want revenge
• Capable Stupid
• Competent Inadequate
• Embarrassed Ashamed
• Manipulated Like giving up
• Delighted Frustrated
• Healthy Sad
• Worthwhile Small

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The Power of Praise
Think of child, or a family member or a
colleague. What specific things do you praise
that person for? Please write 3 or 4 examples
down in the centre column of your paper.
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Flying Start key outcomes

• Language development
• Cognitive development
• Social and emotional development
• Physical health
• Early identification of high needs
• Improve childs outcomes both in preparation for
  school and long term. By investing in our very
  young we are investing in our future.

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Flying Start services

• Quality centre-based child care
• Health Visitor input
• Parenting Programmes
• Progressive targeting
• Centre/school as community focus

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Supporting Flying Start services

• Training for Early Years and Childrens Centre
  staff teams
• Parent Support Skills training
• The Nurturing Programme
• Appropriate for universal and targeted work
• Multi-agency training for a consistent,
  sustainable strategy for family support

• Quality, centre-based child care
• Health visitor input
• Parenting Programmes
• Progressive targeting
• Centre/School as a community focus

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The Nurturing Programme in Wales

• Torfaen
• Newport
• Cardiff
• Children in Wales

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Family Links in Torfaen
Multi-agency training for 81 staff from a range
of agencies

• Family Support Service Ed. Psychology Team
• Care Management Team Ed. Welfare Team
• Referral Assessment Genesis
• Family Placement Team Language Play
• Community Psychiatric Nurse Sure Start
• Clinical Psychology Team Torfaen Basic Adult
  Skills
• Community Learning Disability
• Health Visitor Team Midwifery Services
• PMHT CCYP
• Womens Aid SMARTT
• MIST Tafarn Newydd Families Service
• Communities First
• This is a wonderful opportunity to learn new
  skills and help our families. It will allow me to
  be confident and knowledgeable in delivering
  parenting groups.

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Torfaen Multi-Agency Parenting Initiative

• 6 out of 6 services use their knowledge of the
  Nurturing Programme in their individual
  one-to-one support work with parents.
• 5 out of 6 services are currently running
  Nurturing Programme parent groups.
• 6 out of 6 services will run groups as part of
  the multi-agency initiative in the coming year.

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Nurturing the very young
Our earliest experiences are not simply laid down
as memories or influences, they are translated
into precise physiological patterns of response
in the brain that then set the neurological rules
for how we deal with our feelings and those of
other people for the rest of our lives. It's not
nature or nurture, but both. How we are treated
as babies and toddlers determines the way in
which what we're born with turns into what we
are. From a review of Why Love Matters, The
Guardian June 2004
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Evaluation/recommendations

• The Nurturing Programme training and
  implementation, Dr Virginia MacNeil
• Evaluation of the Nurturing Programme for
  parents, University of Oxford
• Evaluration of a parent group at HMP Foston Hall
• University of Warwick Initial Teacher Training
  evaluation
• OFSTED reports
• Sure Start A guide to evidence-based practice
• Intervening Early A snapshot of approaches
  primary schools can use to help children get the
  best from school
• Improving Childrens Behaviour and Attendance
  through the use of Parenting Programmes an
  examination of good practice
• What Works in Parenting Support? A Review of the
  International Evidence
• Sure Start Guidance for Childrens Centres 2005

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Evaluation of The Family Links Nurturing
Programme training and implementation

• Parents reported
• an uplifting experience in a supportive
  atmosphere
• a better understanding of family relationships
  and parenting
• improved confidence and communication with their
  children
• more positive attitudes towards their children
• Dr Virginia MacNeill, 2005

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Evaluation of the Nurturing Programme for Parents

• Helped parents to re-establish a sense of control
  in the parental role
• Provided new tools with which to do the job of
  parenting.
• Gave an increased sense of empathy with their
  children,
• Parents had a better understanding of the factors
  which motivate children to behave in particular
  ways.
• Parents able to address the emotional and
  behavioural issues presented by their children.
• Provided the parents with new methods of managing
  their childrens emotional and behavioural
  development.
• Dr Jane Barlow and Dr Sarah Stewart-Brown, Health
  Services Research Unit, University of Oxford

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Evaluation of a parent group for women prisoners
It is clear that, overall, the programme works
the women have enjoyed it, attended consistently,
engaged in the material. There is evidence of
them trying the skills and strategies, supporting
each other and praising each other for the work
they are doing. They appear to have grasped some
of the key messages of the course. Evaluation
of The Nurturing Programme in HMP Foston Hall
2006
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Evaluation of Nurturing Programme training for
students on a teacher training course
The course appears to have been very successful
in terms of its impact on confidence, the degree
to which is met its aims and degree to which the
students enjoyed it. Given that it was only two
days long this impact is remarkable Professor
Katherine Weare, School of Education, University
of Southampton Dr Robert Stratford, School of
Psychology, University of Southampton
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What Ofsted reports say about the Nurturing
Programme in schools and early years settings
Through the Nurturing Programme, high
expectations of behaviour and a calm atmosphere
are developed. Pupils gain a good awareness of
self and others. Staff respond quickly and kindly
and children show trust and confidence in them.
School in London A good number of parents have
received training in the Family Links Nurturing
Programme on which the schools PSHE is based.
This has proved popular and is helping to
establish a consistency of approach between
parents and teachers that is having a positive
impact on the pupils attitudes and behaviour.
School in Oxfordshire
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The last and most important - word
I have been amazed at the usefulness of all the
material in every area of my life, though I did
the course for the sake of my children. I
feel that what I've learned has even helped to
turn around a failing marriage. As far as my
children are concerned, following your nurturing
strategies has largely ended the aggressive
tendencies which were developing in my son (in
response, I now realise, to how I was treating
him) and brought me closer to my daughter who had
been feeling unloved and unheard.
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Thank you
Gail Allan