Parenting Support - Frequently Asked Questions
Parenting orders
Below are some of the frequently asked questions relating to parenting orders:
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A parenting order can be given to the parent or carer/guardian of any young person who has offended and made subject to an order of the court.
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- You will have to be visited for individual sessions no more than once a week during the duration of the order. You may also be asked to join a parenting group.
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- To discuss how your child’s behaviour has affected your life and what affect it has had on others.
- To help you adopt a positive approach to dealing with challenging or difficult behaviour.
- To work with you in setting and maintaining good standards of behaviour for your child.
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We have trained practitioners across the county based in offices in south west, south east and north Staffordshire to cover the whole of the Staffordshire area.
Our practitioners will support your order and offer advice, support and information to the parents and carers of young people who have offended or are at risk of offending, the practitioners can also make referrals to other parenting support services.
Our aim in to help support parents to help their children not to re-offend.
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There may be family support sessions which are designed to help you deal with your child’s behaviour and to reduce the risk of them re-offending. You may also be given exercises to work on at home with your child.
The youth offending service or other agencies may also be working with your child to help them change their behaviour.
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This depends on your individual needs. It may be that you are offered information about other agencies which can assist you. Alternatively, you may have the assistance of the practitioner for only two sessions or you may receive support over a number of weeks or months.
Any decisions about reducing or extending the level of intervention will be discussed between yourself and the youth offending service practitioner.
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The support might be at your home, at the Youth Offending Service office or at another suitable place. You might want the support worker to go with you to an appointment, interview or a meeting about your child. Once again it depends on your needs.
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The type of support will vary depending on what is felt will best suit your needs. This will be agreed as part of the plan which is drawn up by you and the youth offending service worker and may include:
- Information giving
- One to one work
- Signposting or a referral to other agencies
- Parenting groups
- Family work
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Your youth offending service worker can help you deal with a variety of issues and concerns for example:
- Problems at school for your child
- Self esteem (yourself and your child)
- Dealing with behaviour
- Promoting positive behaviour
- Changing unwanted behaviour
- Communication and negotiating with your child
- Basic drugs and alcohol awareness
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If the parent or guardian fails to comply with any of the requirements outlined by the Magistrates, the youth offending service practitioner will attempt to find out the reasons why these requirements have not been met.
It is the duty of the practitioner to inform the police of any 'non-compliance' with the parenting order. The police can choose to prosecute the parent or guardian and a hearing will take place in the adult Magistrates Court.
The Magistrates are able to impose a fine of up to £1000 for non-compliance with a parenting order alongside other orders or a community sentence, e.g. community rehabilitation order (formally a probation order).
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We want your order to succeed, if you have any problems in completing the order let your practitioner know as soon as possible to enable us to help.
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The plan is to reach your targets within the duration of your child's order. Where possible we seek to help you find support services outside our service when your child's involvement with us ends.
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When your plan has been completed you will be asked for feedback (good or bad) on the service you received.
This lets us know how you rated the service. This information is also included in statistics we submit to:
- The Youth Justice Board
- Drug Alcohol Action Team (DAAT)
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Yes, if we can help you with your parenting problems we will or we will try to put you in touch with someone who can.
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You will be offered an opportunity to share your concerns with youth offending service practitioners. If appropriate, you may complete an assessment with a youth offending service practitioner. This will help us to identify the most effective way of helping you.
You may have concerns about your child, their offending or their possible drug and alcohol use or just want to learn more. If this is the case you can ask your child's youth offending service worker to put in a referral for you or, you can contact us directly.
In some cases the courts may use a parenting order as a direct result of young persons offending. This would result in an automatic referral and one of our team will contact you within 5 working days.
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Your youth offending service worker will meet with you discuss your situation and the support best suited to you.
Together you will agree a support plan to suit your individual needs. This will include things like the type of support, how often and for how long it will last.
It might be that you and the youth offending service practitioner identify other areas that need support and a more thorough assessment may be needed.