National recognition for Sutton’s innovative Parenting Programme

Last week, Sutton was in the national spotlight at the National Adults and Children's Social Care Conference. The conference was attended by councils from all over the country and it was a great opportunity for parent group leaders and staff to highlight how Sutton Council supports families in our borough.

For the past two years we have been delivering our innovative parenting programmes to children and families, including to those parents whose children have additional needs.

Since the scheme launched in 2022, over 400 parents have attended an in-person parenting course with another 500 accessing the online offer. We are proud that 149 parents have completed an autism parenting programme. Watch this video to hear from the parents themselves about their experience.

As part of the programme, the Council has also been delivering parenting courses to male prisoners at HMP High Down. We were able to meet the prison Governor, staff and prisoners recently when we presented certificates to those who took part in the courses. It was great to see the positive impact this programme has had on the dads who took part. Our programme has been so successful, we are now delivering it to the women’s prison at HMP Downview.

A critical part of this work is also the additional support which parents can access through the Council’s parenting team and Family Hub Connectors.

We are really proud of how successful this programme has been. It provides invaluable support for families across Sutton and we would like to thank all those local parents and staff who took part in the conference, as well as all the parents and carers who have taken part in our parenting courses.

Cllr Barry Lewis  
Leader of Sutton Council                

Cllr Marian James
Chair of the People Committee