Pioneering Parents under Pressure programme comes to Wales

• Tata Steel funds first innovative programme in Wales for Action for Children
• Professor Sharon Dawe flies in from Australia to deliver training for ‘cutting edge’ Action for Children

A pioneering family programme, Parents under Pressure (PuP), has been launched in Wales for the first time by Action for Children thanks to a donation from Tata Steel.

One of the programme developers, Professor Sharon Dawe from Griffith University, Australia, flew in to the UK to deliver training to Action for Children practitioners in Wales.

The Parents under Pressure (PuP) programme combines psychological principles relating to parenting, child behaviour and parental emotion regulation within a case management model. The program is home-based and designed for families in which there are many difficult life circumstances that impact on family functioning. Such problems may include depression and anxiety, substance misuse, family conflict and severe financial stress.

Professor Dawe said: ‘A substantial proportion of families who engage in the PuP programme show very significant improvement in both child protection outcomes and in areas of life that involve depression, anxiety and stress. In some of our studies, there’s been a big reduction in child abuse potential, so for a significant proportion of families we see really life changing effects.

‘I’m pleased to be bringing PuP to Wales for the first time as Wales has been leading the UK in many areas of evaluating parenting programmes such as The Incredible Years. Action for Children is well placed to say we’ve got a lot of very good programmes and this is a programme designed for particularly complex families that will add to a suite of programmes that you’ve already established. So Action for Children is not only an expert in the field but cutting edge by looking at the most complex families that typically fail in the other programmes.’

Sandra White, children’s services manager for Action for Children in the west of Wales, said: ‘This a notable first for Wales and further underlines Action for Children’s commitment and proven track record in mental health and wellbeing for families facing the biggest challenges in our communities.

‘We are always learning and eager to improve the services to those families who need us most and it was a privilege to meet Professor Dawe and be trained in these innovative approaches. I look forward to our practitioners pioneering these techniques across Wales in the coming months.’

Lucy James, Community Liaison Manager for Tata Steel, said: ‘Tata Steel is delighted to support this ground-breaking programme in Wales. It is a core value of the Tata Group to support, nurture and invest in our local communities, so the partnership with Action for Children in this pioneering project will allow us to reach some of the most needy and vulnerable people in our society.’

How Action for Children works: from before they are born until they are into their twenties, we help disadvantaged children across the UK. We help them through fostering or adoption – and by intervening early to stop neglect and abuse. We make life better for disabled children. We influence policy and advocate for change. Our 7,000 staff and volunteers operate over 600 services, improving the lives of 390,000 children, teenagers, parents and carers every year. We succeed by doing what’s right, doing what’s needed, and doing what works for children.

For more information, visit actionforchildren.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @actnforchildren