Dudley Strategy for Tackling Health Inequalities 2010-15

Tier 2 - There is a gap in availability of Tier 2 formal parenting programmes. WhereChildren‟s Centres or schools identify that parents have Tier 2 needs the practice isto encourage parents to attend Tier 1 programmes and provide some additionalsupport during and after the programme.At Tiers 3 and 4 - the DMBC Senior Parenting Practitioner delivers the Triple Pparenting programme, working in close co-operation with a range of multi-agencyservices. The Senior Parenting Practitioner is also trained in Webster Stratton andStrengthening Families and Communities, so is able to select from a menu ofprogrammes.There is no readily available data on the numbers of families in receipt of theseprogrammes, the numbers of sessions delivered or outcome of intervention.All parenting programmes should include the key components recommended byNICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2006) and there shouldbe clear eligibility criteria, fidelity to the programme and delivery at the correctintensity. There are currently no systems in place which allow a regularaudit/assessment of these items. Ensuring that the investment in parentingprogrammes is effective will require these.Surestart Children’s Centres:These centres are intended to be service hubs where children under 5 and theirfamilies receive integrated services and information. Children‟s Centres across theBorough provide access to a range of services.While the Health Visiting Service now has a named Health Visitor relating to each ofthe Children‟s Centres, fully integrated working remains underdeveloped. The earlyyears‟ workforce may not be being used to maximum effect.There is no intensive home visiting support service (such as the evidence –basedFamily Nurse Partnership recommended by Marmot).Dudley provides a web-based Children and Young People‟s Service Directory andgives access to information on support the parents can access for their families.There are 50 information champions based in children‟s centres and neighbourhoodlearning facilities and contributing to the Dudley Families Information Services.Paid Parent Leave During the First Year:For 1- 5 year olds there are no adverse effects of maternal employment on cognitivedevelopment, but if children are in poor quality child care for long hours there may besome negative effects on behaviour. Changes in parental employment patterns arenot inevitably benign and there is some work linking maternal employment to lowerlevels of breast feeding, increased levels of obesity at 3 years and poorer indicatorsof diet and physical activity at 5 years. Paid parental leave is associated with lowerrates of maternal depression, lower rates of infant mortality, fewer lower birth ratebabies, more breast feeding and more use of preventive healthcare. There is no31