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Txt 4 help with ur kids

DEPARTMENT FOR CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES News Release (2007/0124) issued by The Government News Network on 6 June 2007

Government launches new plan to help parents by text messages and social networks

Parents will be able to receive text and instant messages to help them with their children, thanks to a £34m new initiative launched today by Children's and Families Minister Kevin Brennan.

Using phone helplines and the internet, 'Parent Know-How' will signpost parents to information and support services. It will be targeted at people who may struggle to find the help they need - such as the parents of disabled children, fathers and those from disadvantaged communities.

Kevin Brennan, Children's and Families Minister said:

"We want to support those parents who seek help with bringing up their children. By improving phone line support and setting up text messages, instant messages and social networks, we will provide help for parents when it suits them best."

Improving telephone support and introducing new methods means parents can get information when they want it. 'Parent Know-How' will help with a range of issues like reducing obesity in children and supporting the victims of bullying, through to improving educational outcomes.
'Parent Know-How' will bring together pre-existing resources, such as parenting helplines, and create new ways for parents to get help, such as text and instant messages and establishing new social networks - websites where parents can join together to swap parenting tips and help solve each others' problems.

This comes on the back of research from 2006 which found that 77 per cent of parents agreed or strongly agreed that they liked input from professional or published sources on parenting issues. The same research also showed mothers and fathers have a strong preference for the internet over other channels, but this was particularly so for fathers - 63 per cent said the internet was their preferred channel for information and support.

A 'Parent Know How' Innovation Fund, worth up to £23m for 2008-2011, will encourage providers of parenting information and support to focus on new ways of engaging parents.

There will be a competitive procurement process to award contracts for services that test and demonstrate the ability of new technologies to reach parents with unmet needs.

Telephone helplines providing parenting support will receive up to £10.5m grant funding over three years from 2008-2011. This will be awarded following a competitive grant application process. The Department will specify the range of topic areas against which it wishes to fund support, and its expectations for the numbers of parents to be helped.

These processes are expected to be completed by December 2007.

NOTES TO EDITORS

An advertisement will appear in the OJEU on Monday 9 July and tender documents will be available from that date at http://parentknow-how.dcsf.gov.uk

Around 18 million people in the UK use instant messaging software like MSN and Yahoo Messenger; social networking sites like Myspace accounted for half of the top 10 fastest-growing internet brands for July 2006.
According to recent figures from comScore - a global Internet information provider - the UK has the most active online population in Europe, with the highest average number of daily visitors (21.8 million), the highest usage days per month (21 per user), and the highest average time spent per month per user (34.4 hours).

They also report that the UK is experiencing a rapid growth in social networking, with sites such as FaceBook having 3.7 million UK visitors in April 2007, an increase of 38 per cent on the previous month.

Adults 35-54 now make up more than 40 per cent of MySpace users, up 8 percentage points in the last year.'

An audit undertaken by Ofcom in 2006 reported that minority ethnic groups use the internet more frequently (14.5 hours per week compared to 9.9 for the UK overall). Minority ethnic group adults (age 16-44) are also more likely to own a mobile phone, digital TV, have Internet access from home and a digital radio than the UK average for an adult in the same age.
The Internet can be a particularly effective channel for providing support and more specific information, as parents indicate that they often turn to websites when seeking information that might solve an immediate problem.

An example of how the Internet and social media are being utilised by parents can be seen through sites like Netmums that has 300,000 members, 40 per cent of whom are from low-income families.

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