The ‘Turn to Parenting’: Paradigm Shift or Work in Progress?

Although the concept of parenting support isn’t necessarily new, their appears to be a new understanding of this paradigm within the field of child and youth support. Arguably there currently is a tendency within this field to emphasize preventive and parent-oriented support programs, which is sometimes referred to as “the turn to parenting.” The research described in this manuscript investigates whether such a turn has indeed taken place, based on Campbell’s (2002), Yee’s (1996) and Hall’s (1993) theories concerning the process of policy making.
This manuscript traces back the concepts of parenting and parenting support in policy documents of the Netherlands, as well as (quantitatively) analyses the database of effective youth care interventions in the Netherlands. Variables are related to the turn to parenting, such as an orientation towards preventive care or targeting parents rather than children. The results suggest a trend (although not statistically significant) towards preventive and targeted preventive interventions. In contrast to a turn to parenting however we find a statistically significant rise in early education programs, rather than in parenting support programs. Findings also indicate that parenting support programs have been dominant in the Dutch field of youth care in the last two decades. All in all the findings suggest that the turn to parenting is not a real paradigm shift, but that ideas around parenting and parenting support have been ongoing, and that policy and practice have mutually influenced each other during the time frame of this research (1990-2010).