New methods of parental involvement aim to improve children’s well-being
22.09.2020 I More news
VELUX FONDEN is focusing on the development of methods to improve parental involvement among socially disadvantaged families. Three new grants are being issued to projects centred on play and learning among children in daycare centres, school-home collaboration and young people with self-harm tendencies.
VELUX FONDEN’s grant area for social initiatives in Denmark focuses on strengthening social work through method development aimed at improving conditions for socially disadvantaged people.
Read more about the grant area for social initiatives in Denmark.
In 2019-2020, VELUX FONDEN has allocated a total of DKK 25 million in grants to seven projects that will work with social interventions under the heading ‘Methods to improve parental involvement’. The topic has been chosen as a focus area based on cooperation with civil society organisations and municipalities:
“Our dialogue with researchers and practitioners has highlighted an urgent need to develop new methods to improve parental involvement among socially disadvantaged families. Involving parents in constructive ways can improve the well-being of their children. It’s important that the efforts are organised in a way that does not bring exposure to the socially disadvantaged status of the families, and that recognises their resources,” notes Vibeke Lybecker, Head of Programme, from VELUX FONDEN’s grant area for social initiatives in Denmark.
From play and learning to school-home collaborationVELUX FONDEN’s board has just allocated grants to three new parent involvement projects that will be working with very different target groups around Denmark.
The projects have a common focus on developing methods and approaches that can improve how parents support the leisure activities, schooling, education and personal and social development of children and adolescents. One project focuses on children in daycare centres and their families, while another focuses on young people with self-harm tendencies and their families. The third project will develop ways to promote more inclusive school-home collaboration:
“School-home collaboration is different at every school, because parents are fortunately diverse. We see school-home collaboration is being positive when as many parents as possible are involved, and they experience it as meaningful. The Parent Communities project is about exploring the best conditions for creating a school-home collaboration framework that makes this possible. The project gives us the opportunity to explore several approaches to promoting an inclusive parenting community. With this grant from VELUX FONDEN, we are grateful to have the opportunity to test our ideas for inclusive parental collaboration,” says Marianne Kjær from the Brug Folkeskolen parents’ association, which has received a grant for the Parents associations project.
Brug Folkeskolen parents’ association, DKK 1,291,818.
The aim of the project is to improve children’s well-being and equal opportunities in primary school by increasing parental involvement in their child’s schooling, and developing methods for inclusive school-home collaboration. The target group is students in years K-3 at three schools in the Municipality of Copenhagen: Kirsebærhaven Skole, Lykkebo Skole and Tagensbo Skole.
The project is being carried out by Brug Folkeskole parents’ association (in Danish).
Den Boligsociale Helhedsplan in Slagelse, DKK 4,997,900.
The aim of the project is to develop a method to support parental involvement through learning and play. It is based on the idea that play is a good framework for engaging in positive social interactions, promoting learning and working with the well-being of children and parenting skills. The families will be recruited from daycare centres in Slagelse Municipality, including from the Ringparken and Motalavej residential areas.
The project is being jointly carried out by Den Boligsociale Helhedsplan in Slagelse Municipality and Gerlev Idrætshøjskole. The project will be evaluated by VIVE.
Co-creation between public and volunteers towards better ways of support
Holmstrupgård, Central Denmark Region, DKK 3,341,472.
The aim of the project is to develop and test a holistic family initiative for young people with self-harm tendencies and their families, with a focus on parental involvement. The method integrates and combines an outpatient time-limited social-psychiatric treatment initiative with a voluntary civil society initiative. The target group is young people aged 12-18 years with self-harming behaviour and their families.
The project will be carried out by the Holmstrupgård institution, Central Denmark Region, and Landsforeningen mod Spiseforstyrrelse og Selvskade (LMS), in cooperation with the municipalities of Aarhus, Skanderborg and Silkeborg. The project will be evaluated by Metodecentret – Centre for Innovation and Methodology, in the specialised social area.
FBU national parents’ association, DKK 4,928,045.
The aim of the project is to improve the well-being of children placed in out-of-home care by promoting constructive cooperation between their biological parents and the place of placement/municipality. The target group is parents of children placed in out-of-home care. Under the project, parents will be offered professional counselling in group sessions running for six months, with a focus on constructive dialogue, children’s development and well-being, the parenting role and establishing social networks.
The project will be carried out by FBU (in Danish), based in the local Zealand chapter, and is expected to be run in two geographical locations at a time. The project will be evaluated by SocialRespons.
– From Childhood Obesity Intervention to Family Lifestyle
FitforKids, DKK 2,281,925.
The project will develop a method that can promote parental involvement in lifestyle programmes targeted at families with an overweight child. The goal of the lifestyle programme is to ensure more lasting weight loss and better well-being for the children. The project includes offers of summer camps and motivation seminars, with a focus on the role of parents in relation to family lifestyle changes. The family power concept will be tested in four groups, after which it will be refined. The concept will then be applied to a further 20 groups.
The project is being carried out by FitforKids (in Danish), in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and Psykiatrifonden.
Danish Red Cross, DKK 6,199,348.
The aim of the project is to empower and increase social mobility for socially disadvantaged families through a holistic family initiative organised by the Red Cross. The project will give socially disadvantaged families concrete tools that can contribute to new management strategies in families.
The project will develop methods for systematically creating stronger and clearer links between the content of the Red Cross Family Camp and the other family services the Red Cross offers, so that families experience better cohesion and integration in the family initiatives.
The project is being carried out by the Red Cross and will be evaluated by SocialRespons.
- A methodology project on parent involvement
Neighbourhood Mothers, Fonden for Socialt Ansvar (Foundation for Social Responsibility), DKK 2.432.904.
The aim of the project is to develop a community-based voluntary initiative in disadvantaged residential areas that can improve parental involvement and increase children’s well-being. Under the project, volunteer Neighbourhood Mothers will facilitate local parenting communities that can support parents in relation to knowledge of parenting and their ability to become co-creators of children’s well-being locally. The project target group is socially disadvantaged parents with children aged 5-15 years.
The project will be initially carried out in Herning and Ringsted. The project’s methods will be described in a manual, and evaluation of the project’s external impact will be carried out by PLUSS.
