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Parent Champions
Parent Champions for Childcare are parents who have positive experience of using childcare and/or supporting their child’s early learning who act as advocates and peer advisers in their community to other parents.
Daycare Trust has developed this model to reach parents who are missing out on information about childcare and early learning services because they do not know where to find information and are not engaged with local services or networks.
In 2007 DCSF funded Daycare Trust to manage three pilot Parent Champions projects in London to increase awareness of formal childcare. Following the success of the trial projects Daycare Trust was funded by the DCSF to develop a toolkit for local authorities to set up their own Parent Champions schemes.
Daycare Trust have now received funding from the Department for Education to further develop the Parent Champions for Childcare model with the delivery of six pathfinder schemes and the development of a national network of Parent Champions schemes across England.
What is a Parent Champion?
The role of a Parent Champion for Childcare is to engage with parents in their community to offer information and initial support to parents. This involves using different outreach techniques to engage parents, which may include drop-in information sessions, informal workshops in community locations and contact-building at children’s activities such as library reading programmes.
Parent Champions for Childcare can:
- Help parents to understand the benefits of quality childcare and early learning for their children.
- Encourage parents to participate in early learning activities with their children.
- Help parents to find out about and take up formal childcare places for their children.
- Encourage parents to participate in local childcare and early learning services e.g. by volunteering to help out at play sessions, becoming a parent representative on their Children’s Centre advisory board.
Parent Champion pathfinder schemes
The six Parent Champions for Childcare pathfinder schemes will each be delivered for a six month period. The first project started in September 2011 and all project delivery will be completed by the end of July 2012. The following areas have been selected as pathfinders:
| Area | Delivery period of pathfinder scheme |
| Liverpool | September 2011 - March 2012 |
| Southwark | October 2011 - April 2012 |
| Bradford | October 2011 - April 2012 |
| York | October 2011 - April 2012 |
| Wiltshire | December 2011 - June 2012 |
| Sandwell | January 2012 - July 2012 |
Local authorities can choose to deliver the scheme themselves or identify local partner organisations to manage the day-to-day delivery of the project. In each area, the local authority/delivery organisation will identify target groups for the scheme to reach.
Groups being targeted by the pathfinder schemes include;
- BME families,
- parents from abroad,
- fathers,
- teenage parents, and
- parents of disabled children.
Monthly monitoring information about the number of parents contacted by the Parent Champions, referrals to the Family Information Service and parents taking up local services is being collected by each pathfinder scheme and shared with Daycare Trust.
National network
In addition to the six pathfinder schemes, Daycare Trust will be launching a national network of Parent Champion schemes in February 2012. Through this network we will be offering support and online resources, including template documents and teaching materials to local authorities to set up a Parent Champions scheme.
More information will be added to this web page over the next few months.
To find out more about setting up a Parent Champions for Childcare project and the support Daycare Trust can offer you, complete the enquiry form below or contact Esther Burridge at eburridge@daycaretrust.org.uk or on 020 7940 7514.
Parent Champions enquiry form
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