Engaging young parents and their families in a multi-family group work intervention: lessons from a pilot in England

This article offers a practice account of the pilot of an inclusive, community based, multi-family group intervention for young mothers and fathers, their children and extended family. Adapting this North American social work intervention, which is delivered by service user staff members, social work and health professionals, in a UK city demonstrated that young parents and their extended families could be engaged onto a programme designed to enhance family functioning and improve parent-child relationships. Retention rates were good, with 70% of the families who started the programme completing to graduation. The article reflects on key learning and potential benefits the programme could bring to social work practice with young and vulnerable parents in the UK, particularly those considered ‘hard to reach’, such as teenage parents from black and minority ethnic communities. Lessons for wider implementation and suggestions for future systematic evaluations of the effectiveness of the intervention with social work service users are outlined.

Published online: 22 May 2013