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Parenting programmes

If your child gets involved with crime you may be asked to join a parenting programme. This will be to support you in helping your child stay away from crime.

Each programme will be different depending on your circumstances and what’s best for your child.

You usually attend on a voluntary basis, but a youth offending team can make things more formal by:

• suggesting a Parenting Contract
• applying to the courts for a Parenting Order

These will mean that you have to attend a parenting a programme.

Parenting programmes are run by the local youth offending team and other youth justice organisations, like charities.

• Youth offending teams: what they are (young people section)

If you are given a Parenting Contract

A Parenting Contract is a voluntary agreement made between yourself, your child and the youth offending team. In it, you all agree to play a part in improving your child’s behaviour.

A Parenting Contract contains specific conditions to help stop your child getting into trouble. For example, you could be asked to:

• make sure your child is at home at night
• make sure they go to school
• attend a parenting programme

By signing the contract, you agree with what it says you have to do.

There is no set time limit for how long this contract lasts, and it will also be made clear what will happen if you don’t comply with the contract.

If you refuse to agree to the Parenting Contract, or breach its conditions, the court might issue a Parenting Order.

• Youth offending teams: what they are (young people section)

If you are given a Parenting Order

A Parenting Order is a court order that has sets out things that you and your child must or mustn’t do.

These can include making sure your child stays at home at certain times, or go to meetings with your child’s teachers. Parenting Orders can last up to 12 months.

Getting a Parenting Order doesn’t mean you get a criminal record, but you can be taken to court if you don’t obey the order.

If you are given a Parenting Order, you must attend a ‘parenting support programme’ for up to three months. This is to help you with any problems that you’re having with your child’s behaviour.

When Parenting Orders can be given

Parenting Orders can be given if your child:

• constantly skips school
• is excluded from school for serious bad behaviour, either permanently or for the second time in 12 months
• is given an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO), a Child Safety Order or a Sex Offender Order
• breaks the rules of their ASBO
• is convicted of a crime

They can also be given if you don’t make an effort to help your child stop committing crime.

Other orders that can affect you

There are some orders that affect you, even though they are given to your child.

Individual support orders

If your child has been given an ASBO, they could also be given an Individual Support Order. This means they could get counselling for problems like drugs and anger management, and are meant to help your child improve your behaviour.

If your child breaks any of the rules of the order, you could be fined.

Child safety order

These are special orders that can only be given to children under the age of ten.

If your child is given this order they will be supervised by a social worker for up to three months (or longer, in serious cases).

If your child breaks any of the rules of the order, you could be given a Parenting Order. In serious cases where you child continues to get into trouble with the police, they could be taken into care. To find out more follow the link ‘Care orders’ below.

• Care orders

• Community sentences for young people (young people section)

• Custodial sentences for young people (young people section)

• What can happen if a young person is not charged with a crime (young people section)