Back: Mr. John Millington, Ms. Sophia Webster, Ms. Jennyville Smith, Pastor Trent Berg and Ms. Senegal Carty
We are all aware that the family is the most important influence on a young person’s life. Hence, parents are often blamed for the delinquent behaviour of their children, notwithstanding the fact that once they hit adolescence, children are more strongly influenced by their peers. Studies have confirmed that those who suffer from a challenging family life are likely going to have friends who have also suffered from the same or similar problems. However, utilizing core parenting skills can have a positive impact on a child’s behaviour problems and deviant peer relations.
In acknowledgment of this, the Department of Probation in collaboration with P.A.V.E. (Partners Advocating for Violence Eradication) and other agencies embarked upon a pilot of the Family Support Programme. This programme is seeking to address the issues of parenting and juvenile delinquency as a means of prevention and intervention strategy. The programme targeted to parents of adolescents who show early signs of antisocial behaviour and those already in conflict with the law.
The programme began with an Open Forum held at the Seventh-Day Adventist Media Centre, located in the Mason Complex on 8th May 2018. The forum’s aim was providing the parents/guardians with a platform to identify what their areas of needs were specific to their parenting issues and also to help establish some expectations for the programme.
The model then ran for eight (8) consecutive weeks and covered topics such as:
• Family Life Cycle and Spiral,
• Families have many faces and many functions,
• Understanding the development changes in children and adolescent, Understanding Self,
• Relationship Building [Healthy parents build healthy relationship],
• Coping with children’s differences and behaviour styles,
• Communication and
• Disciplining your child.
The facilitators for the sessions were Mrs. Ingrid Lake, Mrs. Hyacinth Bradley, Ms. Samantha Warner, Mrs. Rita Carty, Mrs. Marilyn Hodge, Ms. Jennyville Smith and Ms. Jocelyn Johnson.
Unlike parenting programmes, the primary goal of this programme is to encourage changes in parents’ behaviour through improved parenting and communication skills. It also seeks to provide emotional and practical support in allowing parents to identify and hone their skills while improving their and knowledge to handle difficult behaviours.
At the culmination of the session, on Monday 23rd July, participants expressed their appreciation for the programme and shared how they have sought to implement some of the skills taught and how it has improved their parent-child relationship. The working group plans to meet next week to discuss the overall impressions and evaluations of the programme with a view towards its full implementation.
Ms. Jennyville Smith along with Mr. John Millington and Ms. Sophia Webster, who assisted in the development of the pilot, wish to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Bren Romney, Director of the Department of Youth and Culture, for providing sponsorship which provided logistical support for the delivery of the programme.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
