On 25th March 2026, Parents Plus launched the new, updated parenting when separated programme. The updates are a culmination of years of collaborative work with parents, facilitators and agencies, bringing a fresh, modern approach to supporting diverse families in navigating the challenge of parental separation.
The launch began with hearing the views of parents and children on managing separation. This highlighted the value for parents in attending a Parenting When Separated group in feeling supported, understood and no longer alone. Parents emphasised that by attending PWS they learned to better manage their emotional reactions, build their relationships with their children and to refocus on themselves and the power they have to improve their situation.
With the support of the wonderful children’s service, Rainbows Ireland, children’s perspectives on separation were shared. The children highlighted that they need their parents to communicate and plan together. They want to be kept informed about plans and may need help with organising themselves for contact. Contact with both parents is extremely important to children and they want it to be predictable and for transition times to be calm.
Both parents and children highlighted the emotional impact of separation and emphasised that the new programme needs to focus on parent emotional well-being. New videos which accompany the programme showed parents who attended a PWS group talking through what they found works for them and their family, adding invaluable personal insights to support other parents.
At the launch event, Dr Adele Keating, co-author of PWS, brought everyone through the new programme additions, highlighting how all of the feedback was used in the development. The new programme contains a three strand model of supporting parents, supporting children and self-care, with the new self-care module reflecting the importance of supporting parental well-being. Further new content focuses on navigating the legal process, talking to children about court, parental listening skills, emotion regulation for both parents and children and an updated section on living arrangements to reflect the diversity of family configurations.
For facilitators new content has been added to the facilitator manual. The session plans have been condensed and a new concept of ‘get creative’ has been introduced to recognise the strengths and skills that facilitators bring to the group process and to allow flexibility in delivery to meet the needs of parents. Extra detail has been provided to assist facilitators in reflecting on how to manage some of the more challenging situations that parents may experience such as parental alienation or domestic abuse.
For the final segment of the launch Laura-Jayne Morris, Reducing Parental Conflict Coordinator & Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities Coordinator, added her extremely useful experience of facilitating and coordinating the PWS groups in Durham. In particular Laura-Jayne, gave fantastic real life examples of supporting families who have experienced domestic abuse and who have found attending the PWS group valuable and empowering. Laura-Jayne shared some stories from these parents who said they felt supported, calmer and more in control, while also seeing positive changes for their children. Laura-Jayne shared her top tips for what makes a group run well, including an initial screening session, predictable structure to the group, facilitating peer-support and check-ins for vulnerable parents during the group.
To end we had some Q&A’s from all in attendance. There was a sense of excitement for the new content with lots of facilitators keen to train and upskill.