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Promising Practice Profile
December 2008

Parenting KI

Kangaroo Island Children's Services

The full Promising Practice Profile is available for download in PDF format (581 KB)

Project practice

Parenting KI provides parent training sessions and workshops on issues affecting families and ways of making the family unit stronger, as well as engaging fathers in parenting education.

Project undertaken by

Kangaroo Island Children's Services
50 Buller St
Kingscote SA 5223

Start date

June 2006

Focal areas

Program

Local Answers (LA)

Issue

Kangaroo Island, South Australia, is a geographically isolated area with limited opportunities for parents to access services, training and support. Many families on the island have moved there from other parts of Australia and in some cases from other countries; therefore they do not have the family support to which many people are accustomed.

Below average birth and death rates have led to modest natural increases in the region's population in recent years. Migration has been the most significant contributor to population changes, with 12% (120 people) moving from the island in 2005, following two years of incoming migration (137 people over 2003 and 2004).

Australian-born people comprise 81.8% of the population of Kangaroo Island, well above the state average of 74.0%. The cultural diversity of the region is based primarily on migrants from the United Kingdom, with smaller populations of people born in Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Between 2002-06, around 24% of new arrivals to the island came from Malaysia and Indonesia (ABS, 2006). Recently arrived migrants to Australia may require support/training in the workforce due to lack of recognition of existing skills/qualifications, as well as language and cultural barriers.

The characteristics of the labour market of the island contribute to families' sense of isolation and alienation. The graph below shows that compared to the rest of the state, Kangaroo Island has a lower level of educational, health, community, cultural and recreational services that would otherwise regularly be accessed by families. The island workforce is characterised by a high number of employees involved in agriculture, fishing and forestry that, by their nature, can tend to lead to physical isolation.

 

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Population Census 2001 and 2006

Anecdotal evidence gathered through the project coordinator's dealings with families shows that one of the most common reasons for people leaving Kangaroo Island after residing here for a short period (i.e., a year or two) is the lack of family support - "we decided to move back to the mainland to be closer to our family/the kids grandparents".

Program context

Parenting KI was first established in 2004 by a group of volunteers and service providers who recognised the lack of services available to meet the needs of parents and their families across the island. An initial grant was received through the Commonwealth Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. These funds supported the development of:

Kangaroo Island Children's Services (KICS) and the Kangaroo Island Health Service (KIHS) took the lead role in the initiation of this project. Kangaroo Island Children's Services became the managing body for the Commonwealth funding for the project. KICS is an integrated service providing community based long day care, occasional care, pre-school, an early-learning program, playgroups, and Parenting KI. The two organisations (KICS and KIHS) remain sponsors and supporters of the project.

In May 2004 a coordinator was appointed and a steering committee made up of parents/caregivers, health, education and care workers was established. Further funding was received in May 2006. Parents on Kangaroo Island were identified as having the following needs:

The project employs a coordinator part time (56 hours per fortnight), occasionally contracting other employees to carry out specific tasks.

Practice description

Parenting KI provides opportunities for parent training sessions and workshops on a wide variety of issues affecting families and ways of making the family unit stronger. Parenting KI has also established a volunteer program, called "Parenting KI Family Support Program", to combat geographic and/or social isolation. The families supported may be struggling with, for example, changes in their circumstances, health problems or loneliness. The program also utilises three volunteers, two of whom are supporting families and one who has just completed a year-long placement with a family. Parenting KI also provides resources to the community. A secondary aim is to reach out to single parents and fathers.

This Promising Practice Profile focuses on the innovative recruitment and retention strategies used to encourage and engage parents, particularly fathers, to attend parent training sessions, including the conduct of the "Dad's Evening" and other training sessions. There are a number of key ingredients in the practice of recruiting and engaging fathers and in the running a parent training group, which are outlined below.

Recruitment strategies

The success of the program's recruitment strategies is dependent on two ingredients: the personal approach used; and the comprehensive targeting of potential participants. Each of these will be discussed in detail.

The personal approach

The personal approach involves three core practices:

Approaching parents at venues where they congregate

Fathers are notoriously hard to engage, and even harder to retain, in community service programs (Parenting Imperatives - 2nd National Parenting Conference May 2006). To encourage fathers to attend, all potential participants were approached personally through a number of avenues, including personally approaching dads as they dropped off and collected their children from school, child care and sporting events. Drop off time at both school and child care tends to be rushed, and parents are focused on their children. However, they will usually still take an information flyer.

This same approach is used for other parent training sessions. Because it is more common for the mother to be the primary carer, they are more "visible" and it is easier to approach at venues such as kindergym, playgroups, and child care.

Personal contact is also successful, either face to face or via telephone or attending other events where parents assemble. Venues such as kindergym, story time at the local library and playgroups are often quite relaxed surroundings, where both mums and dads are very easy to approach.

Matching the approach with level of familiarity with participants

The coordinator also sent invitations through the mail to new fathers in the area. This information is gathered through local and personal knowledge, from service providers, and sources such as the local newspaper (birth notices). The approach chosen in each case depended on the level of the relationship already established with each of the dads (e.g., if the coordinator knows them personally, she might make a phone call, or mail out information). If they have already attended a course or workshop or regularly visit the children's services, they would be approached in person and spoken to, with a flyer given at the same time. Email addresses are collected at feedback opportunities and these are also used to promote the training sessions.

There is a small core group of fathers who regularly attend parent training sessions and only need an invitation to come along, but on the whole, the coordinator finds that the fathers require a little more work to encourage their attendance.

A welcoming touch

Personally approaching parents helps the coordinator to get to know them prior to them arriving at the session, so that when they do, they can be greeted, introduced and made to feel welcome and comfortable.

The coordinator also draws on personal experience of having moved to the island with a young family and the nature of the people who made her feel most welcoming, these being the locals who approached her and introduced themselves and invited her along to events. The coordinator attempts to follow this example and approaches people who might appear to be new to the island (this does involve meeting a large number of tourists, but is worth it when new participants join the groups).

Comprehensive targeting of potential participants

Successful recruiting involves the targeting of potential participants via:

Using various advertising channels

To ensure that as many fathers are targeted as possible, comprehensive advertising is carried out through:

The coordinator promotes the event in as many ways as possible (e.g., newsletters, mail outs, pockets at kindy/child care, flyers, noticeboards, local newspaper, email) ensuring that parents see adverts a number of times. Other services are also very helpful with promoting events, including Children and Youth Health (the statewide health service for children, young people and women in South Australia), local midwives, medical and education staff, counsellors, and sporting associations. They will either permit Parenting KI to attend their organised events to pass out flyers and talk to parents, put flyers on their notice boards, or talk to parents about the workshop or course.

As the Parenting KI steering committee has representatives from a wide range of services across KI, information is shared among them really well and in turn they pass information on to a large portion of the community.

Using peer leaders

Securing bookings to attend events from a few "leaders" within the peer groups also made others feel comfortable in attending. For example, one of the mums at a local new Mum's group is a well respected woman in her professional life, and has an air of confidence and competence, as well as being a really nice person and very outgoing. She is also always keen to learn more, especially in the new (to her) field of parenting. By letting her know what is coming up, the coordinator finds that this mum's influence among her peers has a positive effect on attendance. People seem to think that if she feels that there is something to be learnt, maybe they could learn something too, and that attending a course or workshop does not mean that you are a "bad parent" rather that you are a proactive parent. The coordinator can count on this particular mother to pass on information to others, so she ensures that it is always emailed to her early.

The situation for the Dad's Evening was slightly different, the coordinator did not know who to "use" as a peer leader, but one has since emerged. The dads had all been approached and informed, but initially the bookings were slow. Mums would ask, "Is 'X' going? My husband will go if 'X' is going!", so the coordinator decided that "X" and his partner would be a good person to target. Eventually, "X" booked in, and so did his friends.

Partner support

Approaching partners of attendees in a lot of cases was also helpful. By approaching the partners of the dads, many of them, especially those who attend parent training sessions themselves, became keen for their children's dads to have access to the same quality information and support. If people have someone encouraging them to do something, they are more likely to do it.

Engagement strategies

In order to build and maintain engagement with Parenting KI activities and events, four core practices were utilised: the adoption of a universal program; the use of familiar environments; expert speakers; and program design and structure.

Universal program

In most cases, the program is targeted to all parents and not just to parents encountering parenting difficulties or those with problems (hence there is no stigma attached to attending the programs). Occasionally, courses are run with a more specific group of parents, e.g. those with concerns about their child's behaviour, or families experiencing separation and divorce. In these circumstances, new participants are targeted through the appropriate services more heavily than through the usual channels of promotion. The appropriate service providers are able to discuss the benefits with the client in attending and in some cases will often book them in or even accompany them to the course for support.

Familiar environment

Venues for parent training sessions are purposefully chosen.

To encourage dads to attend the sessions, the venue was held in a male friendly environment - one of the local football clubs. The program approached the local football club to provide the venue and a member to "man the bar". The club was centrally located, is a local icon and the fathers were familiar and felt comfortable in this venue. The atmosphere was relaxed, the dads enjoying a couple of quiet drinks and some nibbles while they listened to the speakers and participated in the evening. Though none of the dads in attendance were heavy drinkers, providing a venue where they could relax with a beer or a glass of wine, encourages some of the dads to come along. "Bar open... Beauty, I'll go!" was one comment passed on by the partner of one dad who came. This venue has been used on a number of occasions for other types of courses, mainly due to the convenience and facilities offered: a kitchen, a separate hall adjacent that is used for crèche, and familiarity of venue to the participants.

Factors that influence the choice of venue include what else is going on around town. For example, the program recently held a drop in session for parents and children on "Children's Development" in a room adjacent to the local library prior to children's story time. This capitalised on the fact that parents would be planning on being in that location, and would be more likely to attend than if the event was held in a different location.

Expert speakers

For the Dad's Evening, Steve Sheehy from the Fatherhood Project was approached. He is well known and highly respected for his work with dads. After discussing with him what we wanted to achieve from the evening, Steve suggested that he also bring along a child psychologist, Laurie Field whom he often works with. Because KI is isolated and transport costs and time factors affect who can be brought over, and how often, these were brought into consideration when deciding the topics. Steve agreed that he and Laurie would talk about some of the topics included in the longer groups that dads in the metropolitan areas are lucky enough to be able to attend.

Program design and structure

When designing the program, it was important to consider the program activities, timing and duration.

Parents enjoy a balance of listening and interactive time at courses and workshops. Talking and sharing experiences and working out ways of solving problems are very important to parents and these were specifically indicated in the activity feedback sheets returned to the coordinator.

The timing of the sessions takes into consideration the target parents - if the group targets parents (in general) of preschool aged children, it is usually held on a weekday morning. If it is to target dads or parents of teens, it will be held in the evening. Weekends are mostly taken up by sport, as are many weekday evenings, so to run anything in competition with a sporting event is pointless. Generally, events are timed to be run during school term time, for the convenience of families, as many take the opportunity to leave the island when there are breaks from work or school commitments.

The length of the session is also decided by the age-group of the participants. Parents of young children often are not comfortable leaving their children in crèche for more than a couple of hours, and as a number of them are sleep deprived, concentrating for longer than that can also be challenging. Most events are organised to be completed in one session. It takes very dedicated parents and excellent presenters to have everyone complete courses that run over a number of weeks. For example, at a recent 6 week parenting course, out of 23 enrolments, 3 parents attended every session, 5 attended between 5-6 weeks, 4 attended between 4-6, 11 attended 1,2 or 3 sessions and 1 didn't attend at all.

Research base

The discussion of existing research will focus on the engagement of men/fathers in parenting and related activities (adapted from the report on father-involvement by AIFS researchers: Wise et al., 2008).

The benefits of fathers' involvement in parenting

Research into the "fathering" aspect of parenting is an underdeveloped field. The first fathering research occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s and focused on issues to do with the father's absence from the family. Only recently has research focused on the positive contributions men make to children's development and family (Fletcher, Fairbairn, & Pascoe, 2004).

Researchers have developed a range of theoretical frameworks to explain the various direct and indirect ways fathers contribute to children's development. A commonly used framework is that of Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, and Levine (1987). In this framework, fathering is viewed as having three main components:

Research has found both positive and negative impacts of both fathers and mothers on child development, dependant on a range of factors. The positive engagement of mothers and fathers in parenting increases the emotional, social and economic resources in families (Flood, 2003; Lamb, 1997; Silverstein & Aurebach, 1999) and children learn from the differences in the behavioural styles of their parents (Lamb, 1997).

Russell et al. (1999) found that the quality and quantity of father engagement was linked to a range of outcomes including: adolescent emotional wellbeing; positive self-esteem in girls; empathy; pro-social sibling interaction; greater support networks; greater social interaction and feelings of community involvement. Studies have also linked academic achievement with the quality and quantity of father involvement (Russell et al., 1999). Flouri's (2005) research suggests that father involvement supports daughters' educational attainment in adult life but is not related to adult sons' academic achievement. Children with highly involved fathers have positive outcomes in socio-emotional, behavioural and cognitive/educational domains (Lamb & Tamis-Lemonda, 2004). In terms of children's behaviour, mothers with highly involved partners report that their 6-year-old children have fewer internalising and externalising behaviour problems than mothers with less involved partners (Culp et al., 2000). Other findings suggest that this effect extends into adolescence (Amato & Rivera, 1999; Flouri & Buchanan, 2002). There is also evidence showing improved literacy and school readiness where fathers read to children from an early age (Gadsden & Ray, 2003). Supportive play interactions between fathers and their young children can enhance cognitive development and reduce cognitive delay among disadvantaged children (Shannon, Tamis-Lemonda, London, & Cagrera, 2002).

Determinants of father involvement

The extent to which fathers become actively involved in parenting varies according to a range of factors. A person's culture and environment shape their ideas. Traditional ideas about parenting affect men's predisposition and ability to be involved parents, and women's ability to let men be more involved in child care in ways often referred to as "gatekeeping" (Gaunt, 2008).

How each parent (men and women) values the father role also affects the level of involvement of the father. Involvement is also affected by the internal investment in the identity of father relative to other identities (i.e., worker, son, husband) (Habib & Lancaster, 2006). Investment in an identity is reinforced when others support and encourage behaviours that are consistent with that identity (Henley & Pasley, 2005). This would suggest that the support of mothers, family members, community members and service organisations is important to reinforce positive perceptions of fathering.

Parenting education for fathers

Parenting education programs for fathers are still uncommon. Although only a handful of formal evaluations have been conducted (see Fletcher et al., 2004; Cabrera & Peters, 2000) the available evidence suggests contact with services can be beneficial for increasing parenting skills and involvement among fathers (e.g., Fletcher, Silberberg, & Baxter 2001; Fagan & Stevenson, 2002; UnitingCare Burnside, 2003; Lloyd, O'Brien, & Lewis, 2003; Doherty, Erickson, & LaRossa, 2006; Magill-Evans, Harrison, Benzies, Gierl, & Kimak, 2007; Newell et al., 2006; Silberberg, 2002).

Evaluation of a US parenting program for fathers showed beneficial outcomes for fathers and their children (MacBride, 1990). This program was a group discussion-based program that took place each Saturday for two hours over a 10-week period. Fathers attended with their children. The research compared 15 fathers who went through this program with 15 fathers who were on the waiting list for the program. After the program, the fathers who attended the program were more confident of their parenting skills, their level of responsibility for the child increased, and on non-work days there was a slight increase in interaction with the child.

Russell et al. (1999) analysed the parenting support services available to fathers in Australia. They argued:

Support programs for fathers can: increase fathers' involvement in childrearing activities; improve their communication skills; increase some forms of interaction, decrease levels of parental stress resulting from the parenting role; and improve family functioning. (Russell et al., 1999, p. 23)

In the UK, the evaluation of the Sure Start initiative explored father participation and the use of successful strategies for engaging men (Lloyd, O'Brien, & Lewis, 2003). The study found that successful engagement of fathers was shown to be the exception rather than the rule, although many fathers did have "arm's length" contact with programs, through their partners. Fathers participate at a higher rate in fun activity-based sessions rather than discussion groups, and in male-only sessions.

Commentators suggest a range of strategies for engaging fathers in family services and parenting education. These include:

Outcomes

Outcomes observed include:

Evidence of outcomes

This project is a small Local Answers project with limited funding hence evaluation of the project's success and effectiveness is limited to the gathering of feedback after the sessions. The coordinator collects feedback from participants in order to:

The project coordinator found that while a lot of useful information can be gathered from feedback forms, participants often only answer the questions that they want to, so sometimes it is also a challenge to generate accurate statistics.

From this feedback process, dads who attended the sessions have indicated their high level of satisfaction. Comments from the feedback forms include: "well done"; "interesting session"; and "the session confirmed a lot". All the dads (of a total of 12) who attended the Dad's Evening session on parenting reported that they felt more confident as a parent because of information received during the session. Dads who attended the event have indicated that they are now more inclined to attend other parenting courses and workshops.

The coordinator has also received feedback from service providers of health and education services who reported that they had heard that the Dad's Evening was "a huge success".

During the 15 months prior to the Dad's Evening, the number of dads attending training was minimal. Twelve attended the dad's night and in the eight months since, the number of dads attending other training programs has already reached eight.

Policy analysis

The Kangaroo Island Children's Services project is a positive example of project that combats economic and social disadvantage, and builds socially inclusive communities. The project is an example of an emerging practice area relevant to small, remote and isolated populations, and practices aiming to target fathers in parenting education and family support.

Evaluation

The Parenting Kangaroo Island project was submitted for consideration for the Promising Practice Profiles (Promising Practice Profile). The project was assessed across a range of criteria relating to how the service results in positive outcomes for children, families and communities. The submission was peer reviewed and validated as evidencing promising practice. More information on the Promising Practice Profile selection process.

The Parenting KI project has not yet been formally evaluated and evidence presented here is comprised on internal data collection by the project worker.

Project related publications

N/A

References

Amato, P. R., & Rivera, F. (1999). Paternal involvement and children's behaviour problems. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 375-384.

Cabrera, N., & Peters, H. E. (2000). Public policies and father involvement. Marriage and Family Review, 29(4), 295-314.

Culp, R. E., Schadle, S., Robinson, L., & Culp, A. M. (2000). Relationships among paternal involvement and young children's perceived self-competence and behavioural problems. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 9(1), 27-38.

Doherty, W. J., Erickson, M. F., & LaRossa, R. (2006). An intervention to increase father involvement and skills with infants during the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 20(3), 438-447.

Fagan, J., & Stevenson, H. C. (2002). An experimental study of an empowerment-based intervention for African American Head Start fathers. Family Relations, 51, 191-198.

Fletcher, R., Fairbairn, H., & Pascoe, S. (2004). Fatherhood research in Australia research report. Newcastle, NSW: The Family Action Centre, University of Newcastle.

Fletcher, R., Silberberg, S., & Baxter, R. (2001). Father's access to family-related services (DOC 1.4 MB). Newcastle, NSW: The Family Action Centre, University of Newcastle. Retrieved 14 February 2008.

Flood, M. (2003). Fatherhood and fatherlessness (Discussion Paper No. 59). Canberra: The Australia Centre.

Flouri, E., & Buchanan, A. (2002). Father involvement in childhood and trouble with the police in adolescence: Findings from the 1958 British cohort. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17(6), 689-701.

Gadsden, V., & Ray, A. (2003). Children's academic achievement and early literacy. (ERIC Digest). Retrieved 17 March 2008.

Gaunt, R. (2008). Maternal gatekeeping: Antecedants and consequences. Journal of Family Issues, 29(3), 373-395.

Habib, C., & Lancaster, S. (2006). The transition to fatherhood: Identity and bonding in early pregnancy. Fathering, 4(3), 235-253.

Henley, K., & Pasley, K. (2005). Conditions affecting the association between father identity and father involvement. Fathering, 3(1), 59-80.

King, A. (2005). Developing the practice of working with men in family relationships: Future directions for practice (PDF 47 KB). Sydney: Uniting Care Burnside. Retrieved 6 March 2008

King, A., Sweeney, S., & Fletcher, R. (2004). A checklist for organisations working with men using a non-deficit approach. Sydney: Uniting Care Burnside. Retrieved 6 March 2008 from http://menshealth.uws.edu.au/documents/Article - A checklist for organisations working with men 2.pdf.

Lamb, M. E. (1997). Fathers and child development: An introductory overview and guide. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Lamb, M. E., Pleck J. H., Charnov E. L., & Levine J. A. (1987). A biosocial perspective on paternal behavior and involvement. In J. B. Lancast, J. Altman, A. S. Rossi, & L. R. Sherrod (Eds), Parenting across the lifespan: Biosocial perspective. Hawthorne NY; Aldine.

Lamb, M. E., & Tamis-Lemonda, C. S. (2004). The role of the father. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development. New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons.

Lloyd, N., O'Brien, M., & Lewis, C. (2003). Fathers in Sure Start. Birkbeck: University of London.

Magill-Evans, J., Harrison, M. J., Benzies, K., Gierl, M., & Kimak, C. (2007). Effects of parenting education on first-time fathers' skills in interactions with their infants. Fathering, 5(1), 42-57.

MacBride, B. (1990). The effects of parent education/play group program on father involvement in child rearing. Family Relations, 39, 250-56.

Newell, S., Franks, A., Lloyd, D., Telford G., & Binge, C. (2006). Koori Fathering Program: Pilot phase evaluation report. Prepared for the Health Promotion Unit, North Coast Area Health Service.

O'Brien, C., & Rich, K. (2003). Evaluation of the Men and Family Relationships Initiative. Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services.

Russell, G., Barclay, L., Edgecombe, G., Donovan, J., Habib, G., Callaghan, H., & Pawson, Q. (1999). Fitting fathers into families: Men and the fatherhood role in contemporary Australia. Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services.

Shannon, J. D., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., London, K., & Cabrera, N. (2002). Beyond rough and tumble: Low income fathers' interactions and children's cognitive development at 24 months. Parenting: Science and Practice, 2(2), 77-104.

Silberberg, S. (2002). The nuts & bolts of kids and school: A parenting program for school dads. Evaluation report. Newcastle, NSW: The Family Action Centre, University of Newcastle.

Silverstein, L., & Auerbach, C. F. (1999). Deconstructing the Essential Father. American Psychologist, 54, 397-407.

UnitedCare Burnside. (2003). Fathers support service evaluation report (PDF 431 KB). Sydney: UnitingCare Burnside. Retrieved 19 February 2008.

Wise, S. (Ed), Adams, R., Berlyn, C., Cheney, H., & Oke, N. (2008). The FUN for Kids Program external evaluation [Unpublished report presented to Relationships Australia (Victoria), September]. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Contact

Stella Hebden
Project coordinator

Phone (08) 8553 2436
Fax (08) 8553 2483
Mobile 0428 825 906
Email Stella Hebden

Website

www.kangaroocsc.sa.edu.au/parenting_ki.htm

More information

More information on the Promising Practice Profiles can be found on the Communities and Families Clearinghouse Australia website.