We have been the lead on parent participation in Northern Ireland for almost 25 years as we know the importance of parent voice and the difference it can make.
As a lead organisation in supporting and representing parents/carers and their families we are in a unique position to recruit parents for consultations. Our work in engaging families across Northern Ireland and accurately reporting the views and concerns of parents would guarantee that any change resulting from this consultation accurately represent the opinions of parents. Parenting NI works with many individual parents and parent support groups as well as a number of established Parent Groups across Northern Ireland. We also publicise consultations of interest to parents via Facebook and Twitter as well as through our e-brief, which is widely distributed, across our networks.
We have worked with many organisations over the years including leading statutory organisations to ensure parent voice is portrayed accurately.
If you would like more information please contact our Senior Participation and Research Officer Emma Hitchen (emma.hitchen@parentingni.org) to discuss options.
Promoting Best Practice
We offer Engaging Effectively with Parents training which raises awareness of the importance of parental involvement, explores barriers to participation and ways to engage parents more effectively. The project has also developed a Parental Participation Guide to support organisations to take steps to engage with parents using models of best practice.
For more information on this course please email info@parentingni.org.