Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T19:13:50.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parenting Support as Policy Field: An Analytic Framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2015

Mary Daly
Mary Daly*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article develops an analytic framework for parenting support, treating it as both a form of social policy and a measure that intervenes more broadly in politics and society. It is suggested that, as a form of social policy, parenting support can be examined through analytical categories that are classic to social policy, such as: the nature of the offer or ‘good’ to parents, the modality of provision, conditions of access and operation, the policy setting and linkages to other policies, the unfolding of the policy over time and historical roots, philosophical underpinnings and dominant professional influences. In a second layer, the social and political roots and orientations of parenting support have to be investigated. When one does this by, for example, identifying the main actors involved in parenting support and the rationales and claims made for parenting support as a policy response, it becomes obvious that parenting support can be either a benign project of support or part of a more controlling educative or retraining exercise.

Keywords

Parenting support as social policyanalytic frameworksocial and political intervention in familiessocial policy reformcomparative social policy analysis
Type
Themed Section on Parenting Support in European Countries: A Complex Development in Social Policy
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , October 2015 , pp. 597 - 608
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Boddy, J., Statham, J., Smith, M., Ghate, D., Wigfall, V. and Hauari, H. (2009) International Perspectives on Parenting Support Non-English Language Sources, research report DCFR-RR114, London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and Loss, volume 1, New York: Hogarth.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
ChildONEurope (2007) Survey on the Role of Parents and the Support from the Governments in the European Union, Florence: ChildONEurope.Google Scholar
Daly, M. (2013) ‘Parenting support policies in Europe’, Families, Relationships and Societies, 2, 2, 159–74.Google Scholar
Daly, M. and Bray, R. (2015) ‘Parenting Support in England: The bedding down of a new policy’, Social Policy and Society, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Daly, M., Bray, R., Byrne, J., Bruckauf, Z., Margaria, A., Pecnik, N. and Samms-Vaughan, M. (2015) Family and Parenting Support Policy and Provision in a Global Context, Florence: UNICEF.Google Scholar
European Commission (2013) Investing in Children: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage, Commission Recommendation of 20 February 2013, Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
Faircloth, C., Hoffman, D. M. and Layne, L. L. (2013) ‘Introduction’, in Faircloth, C., Hoffman, D. M. and Layne, L. L. (eds.), Parenting in Global Perspective Negotiating Ideologies of Kinship, Self and Politics, London: Routledge, pp. 1–17.Google Scholar
Furedi, F. (2008) Paranoid Parenting: Why Ignoring the Experts May Be Best for Your Child, London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Gillies, V. (2008) ‘Childrearing, class and the new politics of parenting’, Sociology Compass, 2, 3, 1079–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillies, V. (2011) ‘From function to competence: engaging with the new politics of family’, Sociological Research Online, 16, 4, 11.Google Scholar
Havnes, T. and Mogstad, M. (2011) ‘No child left behind: subsidized child care and children's long-run outcomes’, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 3, 2, 97–129.Google Scholar
Heckman, J. and Masterov, D. (2007) ‘The productivity argument for investing in young children’, Science, 29, 3, 446–93.Google Scholar
Hey, V. and Bradford, S. (2006) ‘Re-engineering motherhood? Sure Start in the community’, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 7, 1, 53–67.Google Scholar
Knijn, T. and Hopman, M. (2015) ‘Parenting Support in the Dutch “Participation Society”’, Social Policy and Society, forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, J. (2011) ‘Parenting programmes in England: policy development and implementation issues, 2005–2010’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 33, 2, 107–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, P. (2011) ‘Some reflections on the rhetoric of parenting programmes: evidence, theory, and social policy’, Journal of Family Therapy, 33, 2, 181–98.Google Scholar
Martin, C. (2012) ‘The invention of a parenting policy in the French context: elements for a policy tracing’, 10 Years of ESPAnet – The Anniversary Conference, Edinburgh, 6–8 September.Google Scholar
Martin, C. (2015) ‘Parenting support in France: policy in an ideological battlefield’, Social Policy and Society, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Molinuevo, D. (2013) Parenting Support in Europe, Dublin: Eurofound.Google Scholar
O'Connor, T. G. and Scott, S. B. C. (2007) Parenting and Outcomes for Children, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Ostner, I. and Stolberg, C. (2015) ‘Investing in Children, Monitoring Parents: Parenting Support in the Changing German Welfare State’, Social Policy and Society, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Pioli, D. (2006) ‘Le soutien à la parentalité: Entre émancipation et contrôle’, Sociétés et Jeunesses en Difficulté, 1, Spring 2006.Google Scholar
Ramaekers, S. and Suissa, J. (2011) The Claims of Parenting: Reasons, Responsibility and Society, Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Richter, L. and Naicker, S. (2013) A Review of Published Literature on Supporting and Strengthening Child–Caregiver Relationships (Parenting), Arlington VA: USAID's AIDS Support and Technical Assistance Resources, AIDSTAR-One, Task Order 1.Google Scholar
Rogoff, B. and Lave, S. (eds.) (1984) Everyday Cognition: Development In Social Context, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Standing, G. (2011) ‘Behavioural conditionality: why the nudges must be stopped – an opinion piece’, Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 19, 1, 27–38.Google Scholar
United Nations (2012) Family-Oriented Policies for Poverty Reduction: Work–Family Balance and Intergenerational Solidarity, New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
White, J. (2013) ‘Thinking generations’, The British Journal of Sociology, 64, 2, 216–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed