The statement Hard to Reach Parents could be used to describe parents who are difficult to involve in the setting or the settings activities. There are many reasons why some parents are hard to reach.
There are also parents who have problems due to their life choices, either through socially unacceptable behaviour - such as those taking part in criminal activity, drug and alcohol abusers, or families where there is domestic violence; or because they belong to communities whose lifestyle might place them toward the boundaries of society, such as Travellers. Doherty et al (2004) argue that “some of the reasons why such families are not engaging with services are that providers tend to shape the service to the characteristics of the group rather than to the needs of individuals within the group.”
Some parents have difficulties relating to communication, such as they have poor reading and writing skills or additional language needs. This can be a barrier for hard to reach parents accessing early years settings. Crozier and Davies, (2007, pp.296) states that
" In many cases it is the provider who is understood as creating the barrier here, rather than the service user and that too often, providers, especially settings, ‘pathologise’ parents and lay the blame on them for something which is out of their control. This in turn, becomes a reason why settings fail to act to overcome the barrier."
" In many cases it is the provider who is understood as creating the barrier here, rather than the service user and that too often, providers, especially settings, ‘pathologise’ parents and lay the blame on them for something which is out of their control. This in turn, becomes a reason why settings fail to act to overcome the barrier."