Giving power to parents to break the cycle of inequality
Intergenerational disadvantage means that a child’s future social and economic outcomes are closely linked and determined by their parents outcomes. Many charities and organisations aim to break this cycle of deprivation and inequality. They aim to improve outcomes for children and young people by offering youth clubs, mentoring or tutoring programmes but all too often, we fail to work with the people who actually have the most power and skin in the game when it comes to breaking this cycle and improving outcomes for children. This is of course their parents!
Parents have the most influence over the future prospects of their children and, of course, they really care about their children’s futures and want the best for them. Children and young people spend the vast majority of their time at home (exacerbated and exemplified by lockdowns and home learning in the last year) and they look up to their parents as role models.
Parents’ peers, other parents like them, are the best people to support them to realise their aspirations and dreams for their children. Parents do this informally all of the time, with friends and with other parents at the school gates but this is rarely supported and promoted by ‘the system’ and organisations which aim to improve outcomes for children. By the system I mean schools, health care, social services, the police and charitable organisations. Much more likely, when parents hit hard times, they are supported by ‘professionals’ such as teachers, social workers or health visitors. This can be scary and intimidating for many parents, often bringing back memories of challenging interactions with these professionals as kids themselves! But what if the ‘professionals’ were actually their peers, other parents, who they can relate to? If not the actual professionals being their peers, then maybe they could be supported by another parent while navigating these systems?
I am partnering with African Families In the UK (AFI UK), to train and support 3 parents (Kerrisa, Zuleyha and Amaka) from Cowley and Blackbird Leys as paid parent peer supporters to do formal peer support and advocacy for other parents like them. The parents that we have recruited might accompany them to meetings at school, health appointments or support them to get registered with the library. They started their induction with us on Monday and we are looking forward to them being fully trained and getting them started in the community, supporting other parents!
