Supporting Parents to Help Youngsters
PARENTS with learning disabilities and their children are receiving a boost in County Durham thanks to a pioneering new scheme.
Tees Valley Housing has been chosen to run a pilot project aimed at improving parenting skills to ensure families stay together and youngsters are not taken into care.
Under the intensive floating support scheme, which covers Teesdale, Sedgefield and the Wear Valley, Tees Valley Housing hopes to work with up to ten families who have children up to the age of 18 and are struggling to cope.
Each family is assigned a key worker as their immediate support and help will be offered from 9am to 9pm, Monday to Friday and from 1pm to 9pm on weekends.
The groundbreaking project, which focuses on parenting skills, will teach the families a range of abilities such as healthy cooking, ensuring the youngsters are ready for school and how to ensure households are safe and secure places for children.
Sue Jeffrey, Chair of the Board for Tees Valley Housing, said: "This is a cutting-edge scheme which focuses on the children, ensuring the parents have the appropriate parenting skills to cope and ensure their youngsters are happy and secure.
"It is about supporting people in their own homes within communities, as well as early intervention, meaning we identify families and help them before they move into a property.
"This support was not available before but through this new project, family relationships can be maintained, allowing families to stay together and less children to be taken into care."
Under the intensive floating support scheme, which covers Teesdale, Sedgefield and the Wear Valley, Tees Valley Housing hopes to work with up to ten families who have children up to the age of 18 and are struggling to cope.
Each family is assigned a key worker as their immediate support and help will be offered from 9am to 9pm, Monday to Friday and from 1pm to 9pm on weekends.
The groundbreaking project, which focuses on parenting skills, will teach the families a range of abilities such as healthy cooking, ensuring the youngsters are ready for school and how to ensure households are safe and secure places for children.
Sue Jeffrey, Chair of the Board for Tees Valley Housing, said: "This is a cutting-edge scheme which focuses on the children, ensuring the parents have the appropriate parenting skills to cope and ensure their youngsters are happy and secure.
"It is about supporting people in their own homes within communities, as well as early intervention, meaning we identify families and help them before they move into a property.
"This support was not available before but through this new project, family relationships can be maintained, allowing families to stay together and less children to be taken into care."
