Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, announced the 25 projects to receive funding under the 2023 Supporting Parents, Parent Peer Support Fund. Through this Fund, a total of €50,000 will be made available to support organisations across Ireland to develop inclusive and welcoming parent peer support initiatives for all parents.
Supporting Parents: A National Model of Parenting Support Services seeks to ensure that all parents are confident and capable in their parenting role, helping to achieve the best outcomes for children and families. This peer support fund is a step towards parents feeling confident and comfortable seeking support from their peers.
Research in Ireland has demonstrated that peer support is highly valued by parents, both for common ages and stages and for specific parenting challenges. Informal support networks are an important protective factor that can enhance parental wellbeing and act as a valuable source of information about other parenting support services.
Parent peer support groups can promote healthy parenting skills, an increased sense of empowerment, and a feeling of belonging. Parenting support groups can also be particularly helpful for parents of those who are coping with anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues and for parents of children with complex care needs.
Welcoming the latest announcement, Minister O’Gorman said: “Every parent deserves to feel supported in their role as a parent. This initiative will allow these organisations to continue their important work, fostering these peer connections and support systems across Ireland.
“This funding will provide practical support to services focused on providing high quality supports for parents. The variety of initiatives is a credit to the support services who are listening to and responding to the needs of parents in their local areas.”