It's about giving them the skills they need to deal with challenging adolescent behaviour

Helen Watson, youth offending service

That is one of the reasons Sunderland City Council uses a voluntary agency, Barnardo's, to provide the classes, rather than its own "youth offending team".

Sunderland is a pioneer in the use of parenting orders, which the home secretary and the education secretary see as one answer to juvenile delinquency in and out of schools.

Of the 1,000 or so the Home Office says have been issued, about a fifth have been in the city, according to the head of the youth offending service, Helen Watson.

Ownership

Most parents are taught in groups of five or six and take a course of one session a week for maybe eight or 10 weeks.

Although initially they might be angry at being told to do it, only a very small percentage actually breached the orders - which can result in a fine of up to �1,000.

They complied because a court had told them to - but the attitude soon changed.

"Parents usually 'buy in' to the course and feel quite supported, so the anger would dissipate quite quickly," she said.

"It's about giving them the skills they need, to deal with challenging adolescent behaviour in particular."

Limits

Many of the problems arose because children had not been set limits to their behaviour, she said.

"Some parents don't actually understand that they have got a fair amount of authority and in terms of sanctions, how they use them and reinforce behaviour can have an impact.

"With some of the parents, the relationships with their children have broken down over a number of years so they are not speaking to one another - they have no respect for one another."

A small gesture - perhaps to listen to a child - could make all the difference and break the negative cycle.

"It's about building self-confidence and self-esteem and introducing them to other parents who have had similar difficulties.

Improvements

"It gives them a sense that they are not alone, there are others with similar challenges. It's a positive experience."

And the bottom line is, it works, Ms Watson says.

"We see really improved relationships and reduced offending in children, and children going back to school."

The one problem with scheme was that it tended to come too late - children might be 15 years old.

The key to that was early intervention, she said.