Acceleration Toolkit: Supporting professionals to engage with young parents

Who is the toolkit aimed at?
What the toolkit hopes to achieve
Why is the toolkit needed?
How was the toolkit produced?
Download a copy of the toolkit

Who is the toolkit aimed at?

The Acceleration Toolkit, commissioned by the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and produced in partnership by The Beat Project and Busymummy, aims to assist professionals supporting and providing services to young parents. 

The responsibility for supporting this client group crosses professions both in terms of subject area, and in terms of seniority.  To ensure that this toolkit is accessible to all audiences the toolkit includes recommendations for:

• practitioners
• line managers
• local strategic leads
• national policymakers.

back

What the toolkit hopes to achieve

The toolkit aims to:

• provide advice on how to engage young parents;
• promote examples of best practice;
• recommend useful websites and resources;
• identify when to signpost and who to signpost to; and
• support professionals to establish new strategic alliances and to develop existing multi-agency teams.

back

Why is the toolkit needed?

Research shows that regions with dedicated young parent professionals have improved outcomes in areas such as engagement with education, employment and training, higher attendance at groups, reduced social isolation, and improvements in line with the Every Child Matters outcomes.

Since the introduction of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 2000, support to young parents has changed dramatically. Professionals are increasingly expected to deliver against tough targets to reduce NEET figures (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and improve sexual health outcomes.

Professionals supporting young parents are expected to be passionate about the work that they are doing with young parents. They should recognise the positive qualities of their clients and have an ardent approach to improving outcomes and raising aspirations.

The media often inaccurately portrays young parents as risk-taking, disaffected youths with little or no interest in improving outcomes for themselves or their child(ren).  With this label hanging over them and with frequent stigmatisation from society at large, some young parents isolate themselves from their friends and do not communicate easily with service providers.  It is thanks to the dedicated work carried out by professionals that young parents overcome these barriers and are freed from their own and society’s judgments.

The Beat Project and Busymummy recognise the need for differentiation. Although there are lots of generalisations about the social demographic of young parents, in reality there is no ‘typical’.  Where possible the toolkit refers to tried and tested tools that can be adapted to the individual professional to allow for equality and diversity needs to be met.

back

How was the toolkit produced?

The toolkit was developed by a range of young parents’ professionals and produced by a project Working Group from across Kent.  The latter group consisted of professionals responsible for supporting young parents on an operational, management and strategic level who represented health, education, children’s centres, local authorities, voluntary organisations, Connexions and private industry.

The Working Group also worked with the Young Parents’ Advisory Panel; an advisory committee comprising of 10 young parents that are committed to identifying the key issues surrounding the delivery of young parents’ services.  The panel was consulted at all stages of the development of the toolkit and provided a useful measure against which the Working Group could check the recommendations made by professionals.

Everyone’s input was invaluable to the success of the project and The Beat Project and Busymummy would like to extend its thanks to all the professionals who participated in the project.  Extra special thanks is extended to the project’s Working Group, Young Parents’ Advisory Panel and the invaluable support provided by Kent County Council’s Young Parents’ Team and Connexions Kent and Medway.

Download a copy of the toolkit

back