Insights into Digital Family Support
I joined Action for Children’s Service Design team for 6 months on secondment from the Civil Service Fast Stream. I was given the brief to improve understanding of the current landscape of digital support services for families, both within and beyond Action for Children.
In this blog I share some of my learning from this research which involved a review of the current literature, desk research on existing services, interviews with internal colleagues, and consultation with external organisations providing digital family support.
Why do we need digital family support services?
Parents need better support
Action for Children policy reports in recent years have revealed the need for better parenting support. A survey of 2,000 parents of 0–5s about their experiences accessing parenting support in 2022 found that 66% wished for more high-quality services to help with parenting. It also uncovered inequality in access to support; lower-income parents, Black, Asian and minority ethnic parents, younger parents, and fathers were more likely to face difficulty accessing services.
Spending on early help services, including parenting support, reduces the number of children coming to harm and going into care. This saves money for local authorities by reducing the need for costly late intervention. However, funding cuts and the rising cost of social care are putting pressure on budgets for preventative early help services. In 2020, Action for Children showed that not enough early help is happening and spending on early intervention has fallen.
But why DIGITAL family support?
Digital services have the potential to reach massive numbers of parents. According to Ofcom, almost all (99%) of parents of children aged 3–17 years had access to a broadband connection in 2022. Action for Children surveyed over 2,000 parents about their experiences parenting during the pandemic and found that only 5% said they wouldn’t consider seeking parenting support online, while 67% would consider looking on Google.
Parents are already seeking advice and support online. In 2021–2022, nearly 470,000 people accessed support from Parent Talk, Action for Children’s online parenting support service which provides trustworthy information, advice and guidance and a 1-to-1 chat service with parenting coaches.
Is digital family support effective?
The results of Action for Children’s survey asking about experiences accessing parenting support in 2022 found that digital delivery of support improves engagement by removing some of the barriers to attending parenting groups (such as childcare/working/travel) and increasing the presence of fathers. Parents’ testimonies suggest positive impacts for parents and children. However, the technology sector moves quick which presents a challenge for collecting evidence on impact. There are limited up-to-date studies which clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of digital family support.
Insights into digital family support
I identified five fundamental principles which underpin all opportunities for development of digital family support services.
One size does not fit all
There is high variability in parents’ preferences for how they access support. Attempting to create a single universal digital family support solution will be insufficient, and likely perpetuate existing inequalities. Parents look to access support in different ways, so providing a range of digital access routes will increase the number of families we reach.
Digital family support can help us reach those we wouldn’t otherwise
Digital family support increases engagement from parent groups who have traditionally been considered ‘hard-to-reach’: more fathers attend online classes; new families reach out via social media who may not have had the confidence/resources/awareness to ask for support by other means; parents in rural areas or with disabilities that struggle to attend in-person groups can join virtual parenting programmes; and working parents can access advice online outside office hours.
Digital services work best in combination with other services
It’s widely accepted that digital family support cannot (and should not) replace in-person support entirely. Instead, digital support can supplement and enhance the overall support offer. A one-off webinar can help parents realise they need more support, signposting to online advice resources can provide interim support for those on waiting lists or top-up support at the end of an intervention, and virtual meetings make it easier for families and support workers to catch up once they’ve developed a trusting relationship meeting face-to-face.
Parenting support is already happening online — it’s a question of helping parents access the RIGHT information
So much of our lives are lived online. Inevitably, when a question about parenting comes up, many parents will turn to the internet. How do we make sure that the advice parents are getting online is safe and trustworthy? There’s no regulatory body around parenting and anyone can share advice online. Family support workers can increase the use of evidence-based advice online by making this information readily available and easy to access, providing it through channels that fit parents’ preferences and coaching parents to evaluate the trustworthiness of sources.
But not all parents have equal access to digital family support
For all the benefits of digital family support, it’s important to remember that some parents face additional barriers, such as access to technology and additional needs which make online services inaccessible. Even among those who can access digital services, the experience is not equal for everybody. Variables such as the size of screen used to watch videos, level of digital confidence, and the lack of non-verbal communication in virtual meetings mean we all have different experiences of digital services. It’s important that service providers understand the limitations of digital platforms and provide alternative routes to support where digital is not suitable.
I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported this project. I’ve been blown away by the incredible work being done to support families within and beyond Action for Children.
In another blog here, I share my learning on the current landscape of digital family support.
After three months, I narrowed the project scope to look specifically at digital peer support for parents. I share the findings from this second part of the research in a blog here.
