Do Parents/Carers Feel Supported? Evaluating the Landscape of Parent/Carer Services in a City in North West England

Holmes, Sarah E and Parr, Elizabeth and Becerra Martel, Deisy and Hakija, Jonida and Wills, Ruth and Fung, Wing Kai and Mackenzie, Lee (2025) Do Parents/Carers Feel Supported? Evaluating the Landscape of Parent/Carer Services in a City in North West England. Family Sciences. ISSN 3042-6693

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Abstract

There have been many evaluations of specific parent programs, but there is minimal evidence of evaluation of the broader landscape of established advice or support services
for parents of children under 18 years old. This paper investigates parent/carer perceptions of support services in their case study city. We explore and examine their perspectives on existing support services and how far they are meeting their needs. Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with parents and carers from across the city, a range of key themes emerged. These included the supportive environment and positive ethos
of services accessed, lack of trust in some professionals, and perceived gaps in provision, highlighting the need for more activities, support, and accessible information, especially for families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). These findings underscore the complexity of navigating the landscape of support services and advocate for more coordinated, accessible, and trustworthy support systems for parents and carers.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords:	parenting; local; community; landscape of practice; boundaries
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Sarah Holmes
Date Deposited:	12 Dec 2025 11:42
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2025 11:42
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4813

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