SUPPORT
FOR PARENTS

Education settings often require parents to sign up to pre-existing systems that may not be a perfect fit, in terms of the child or young person’s challenges and vulnerabilities, or in terms of the already-existing demands on the family system. ATTACH-Manchester has at its heart the experience of young people and their families, which may have involved significant trauma, whether through attachment disruption and early adverse experiences, or by being asked as a neurodivergent young person to mask to fit the system.

 

Parents are often navigating systems that are unfamiliar and that may be experienced as frightening and even threatening. They may feel that they are the only person who has ever been in this position. They may have become isolated and have little or no support network. It may also be the case that involved professionals are struggling to understand the needs of the young person and the family, as well as to find the appropriate support to offer or commission.

 

At ATTACH-Manchester, we have experience in multiple domains and are continuously learning, through our interactions with families and professionals, by following developments in research and through training opportunities.

 

Our diverse staff have many years’ experience in education, adoption, social care and CAMHS, both professionally and through lived experience as parents. Within the team there is lived experience of adoption, birth family contact, child on parent violence, early trauma leading to disorganised attachment, FASD, autism, PDA, ADHD, school-based trauma, Child in Need, Transition planning, CAMHS and the ASGSF. This experience and training have led us to develop a different way of working, which involves supporting the parents as well as the young people, recognising that the young people don’t exist in isolation.

 

A core part of our model is the parent meeting. These meetings are initially offered weekly and can be used adaptively to respond to emerging needs and circumstances throughout the provision.

 

Based on the principles of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and Practice (DDP), our model recognises that a fundamentally important part of meeting the needs of a young person is recognising that supporting the parent, as the secure attachment base for the young person, stabilises the family and helps to create safety for the young person.

 

The parent and the young person are also the experts in their own situation. We support the parent to advocate for their child’s needs within the systems and agencies involved. And we support them to access and to better understand processes such as EHCP needs assessments and annual reviews, Child in Need planning, Short Breaks, CAMHS involvement and diagnostic pathways,  Transition planning and Care Act assessments. Our experience suggests that this makes the processes smoother for all parties involved: parents, young people and professionals.