ABSTRACT
Involving parents and recognising their right to participate in decisions affecting their lives has become an important issue for policymakers and service providers. This chapter explores the development of a participatory model of research with parents involved in child protection and welfare (CPW) services to inform Ireland’s new Parenting Support Strategy 2022–2027. This chapter provides an overview of this process and its outcomes. It details the participatory model used to include parents in developing the new Parenting Support Strategy. Parents were consulted at two different stages to: (a) inform the themes of the strategy through one-to-one interviews; and (b) clarify the goals derived from the themes using focus groups. The approach used to involve parents in the development of the strategic direction of parenting support in Ireland ensured they were fully connected to the research and actively informed the strategy. The chapter highlights the key messages from parents and reflects on the overall process with a reflexive account of the challenges involved in utilising parental participation practices to inform strategic change in CPW services.
