Parents Connect Wales

Parents Connect Wales (PCW) is a project led by Children in Wales with funding secured from the Welsh Government.  

This project has been established to engage parents/carers nationally and create:

‘A Wales wide platform offering a two-way approach for parent’s voices to be heard and to feed into policy development leading to meaningful participation in the form of co-production’. 

The project has been working to meet the national need for a clear way to access parents’/ carers’ views on areas of policy that impact their children and young people. 

Parents/ carers want to feel valued for their lived experiences and to be involved at the first stage of decision-making rather than being involved as a tick-box exercise. They also want to be provided with feedback on what is done with their views.   

Listening to parent’s/ carer’s voices will help to create high quality services that will strengthen parents and families and ensure that the rights of children are met.  

When engaging with parents/ carers, they have clearly said:

‘We want to have a voice and be heard’ 

“I know laws impact us, but I’m not sure how to get involved” 

Phase 1 (November 2021 - January 2022)
 

In Phase 1 of the project a scoping exercise, survey and report highlighted the need for meaningful parent participation.

The findings from Phase 1 highlighted that parents felt that it was extremely important that they were given the opportunity to share their views, ideas and opinions. These findings from Phase 1 provided the evidence for Phase 2 of the project.

Project Achievements (March 2023- Present) 

Parents Connect Wales has established a network of: 

• A professionals’ forum with 110 members 
• A parent steering group with 6 parent representatives 
• 22 local representatives, one in each of the local authorities in Wales. 

The parent steering group and professionals’ forum have been meeting quarterly and providing input into the direction of the project.  

Resources for parents, carers and professionals have also been co-produced in partnership with the Parent Network in Caerphilly. These can be found here:

Posters 
Video and Audio Stories 

Parents Connect Wales trialled a range of five methods to consult with parents/carers and parent groups on behalf of the Welsh Government. 

This consultation was used to test our network and collect information on a specific area of policy across all local authorities in Wales.  

The aims of the consultation were to understand: 

• What support and information parents of 0–18-year-olds need in their parenting journey.
• Parent’s access to and awareness of parenting support offered by local authorities and the third sector.  
• Parent’s awareness and understanding of ‘positive parenting’
• The expectations of Welsh Government and the advice/support that it provides.
• The effectiveness of the methods used to consult with parents. 

You can see the key findings here: Children in Wales | Infographic 

This was an opportunity for parents to have a say on the work that the Welsh Government are delivering to support parents.   

An online platform called the ‘Parents Connect Wales’ Online Hub has been created to provide information and materials for both parents and professionals that work with parents.  

This online hub will also provide a way for parents to share their views on national policy and related matters. 

The Parents Connect Wales online hub was launched in February 2024 and can be accessed here.

Parents and Children’s Rights 

 The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) provides a family focus with the child at the heart. It mentions the words ‘parents’ and ‘families’ more than ‘children’ and recognises that children’s rights are protected first within families.  

The PCW project promotes Articles 3, 5 and 18 of the UNCRC. These articles recognise parents and families and their important role in protecting and caring for children. Find out more here:- Children in Wales | Parents and children’s rights 

The PCW project supports parents/carers to understand children’s rights and to support their children to have their rights upheld.  

It also contributes towards Strand 5 of the Welsh Government ‘Raising Awareness’ plan that was developed as part of the ‘Children’s Rights Scheme’.