CANparent Trial - National Stakeholder Event 27th March 2012

The event was chaired by Anne Marie Carrie, Chief Executive, Barnardo’s, with keynote speakers Sarah Teather, Minister of State for Children and Families, and Julia Gault, Deputy Director, DfE, the event was attended in excess of 100 professionals from across England.

The Family Strategic Partnership facilitated the event to provide key stakeholders with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the CANparent Trials and to contribute ideas to key decision-makers on the following key areas:

• Normalising parenting classes – removing stigma around universal parenting classes and normalising their take-up so parents understand what classes are about and the benefits that they can get from them.
• Encouraging take up – supporting organisations and professionals working day to day with families within the trial areas and beyond to have the knowledge and understanding to be able to talk to parents about the benefits of parenting classes.  This could range from distributing vouchers in the trial areas and encouraging take-up of classes, to talking to parents in non-trial areas about the benefits of parenting classes and signposting to information about them.
• Extending the market beyond the trial – encouraging providers who may want to promote classes in other areas and for parents of older children. This might include looking at different funding models such as employers providing classes as part of their staff benefit packages, sponsorship opportunities or parents paying via monthly subscriptions

Speakers outlined the detail of the trials Presentations From The Event and introduced the CAN Parent brand Oxford SM – brand presentation