Parenting capacity and reading with children: enhancing the assessment framework for children in need and their families.

Abstract

This thesis draws together two strands of thinking to consider their usefulness, when combined, to vulnerable children, their parents and practitioners who work in children's services. One strand conceptualises the abilities and qualities required by a parent to respond to children's developmental needs, as summarised by the term 'parenting capacity', in the psychological and social work literature which underpins assessment and intervention frameworks for practitioners. The second strand is the psychological and educational literature which considers the contribution of reading children's books to child development and the benefits to child-parent relationships of reading together. Both literatures draw from common knowledge, informed from research into the developmental needs of children and the abilities parents need to raise them. There is also contemporary research and scholarship which interprets the relevance of this heritage in contemporary cultural contexts. To add to and link these understandings, this study explores and discusses the views of 33 contemporary parents. Their views on both what makes for a good parent and the benefits of reading with children were gathered. The parents' views were analysed within the paradigm of the parenting capacity dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, published as government guidance to practitioners in 2000 (Department of Health et al. 2000), which remains relevant to children's services in 2006. The use of this framework which draws mainly from one of the strands of literature that is explored (psychological and social work) means that the second strand of thinking (psychological and education) can be brought into the framework and relevant connections and comparisons made, in order to enhance the understanding of parenting capacity contained there. The study concludes by considering how the findings from this analysis have relevance to child welfare practice in contemporary contexts.