Parenting programs for parents with a foreign background. Opportunities and shortcomings.

This paper is based upon empirical data collected in a study of two parenting programs for foreign born parents in 2014 and 2015. One of the parenting programs was developed and used as an intervention by the social services in one part of Stockholm, Sweden. The other program was developed by UNIZON the organization of Swedish women’s shelters and young women’s empowerment centres. The aim of both programs was to prevent honour related violence in immigrant families and to teach parents about children’s rights. Thirteen parents, three fathers and ten mothers, speaking three different languages were interviewed in three focus groups and one individually. The interviewed parents gave a partly different answer about why they participated in the program than the motives formulated by the parenting program organisers. One conclusion in our investigation was that both programs filled a gap among parents with experiences of migration. The gap though, was not always related to issues of honour or violence. The parents in the study all explained about difficulties in raising children in an unfamiliar situation, without relatives and friends around, with lack of knowledge about rights and duties and lack of trust in Swedish authorities. Several of the parents also explained how complicated and stressing it was to fulfil studies in the Swedish language and internships at the same time as they had responsibility of three, four, five or six children of various ages. The parenting program offered meetings with other parents in the same situation and teaching in their mother tongue. The programs had value to the interviewed parents because they felt recognized as parents with responsibility of children. In the same time, the programs were both selective (in contrast to other programs that are general, e. g ABC, Comet, The incredible years) and described their target group as foreign born parents marked by honour related violence. Risks of reproducing stereotypes of “immigrant families” had to be handled by the program organizers as well as other dilemmas e.g. representing an authority (social services) and of confidentiality (UNIZON) in the encounter with the participating parents.