We are passionate about ensuring the parents we work with are empowered and supported to cope with the trauma of child exploitation. To reflect and learn from our own practice and gain a “real life” impact our support has on families we commissioned an evaluation of our work.
“Without the help and support from Pace, I would not be here, it’s that simple. I received news about the case and I couldn’t cope. The fear was immense, there was no way I could see beyond the worst possible outcome. My Parent Liaison Officer sorted everything. I could see light at the end of the tunnel. I was suicidal, without her help I would not be here” – Parent
The evaluation explores the three key streams of our work; our telephone based National Parent Support team, our face-to-face Parent Liaison Officers in the North West of England and our national Parent Participation programme which supports parents to campaign, raise awareness and influence best practice.
“In a lot of cases, without the Parent Liaison Officer, some of the children would have ended up in local authority care and did not because of Parent Liaison Officer support. The resilience she builds in parents is key in keeping children in families” – Social Work Team Manager
The findings provide considerable insight into ‘what works’ for families when a child is exploited and how real partnership working with parents, and across agencies, can deliver better safeguarding practice and ultimately improve outcomes for children and young people.
“We help parents regain a bit of control in a situation of complete helplessness” – National Parent Support Worker
With thanks to the Big Lottery and the John Laing Trust for funding this evaluation.