I AM writing from national charity Parentline Plus to respond to the recent media coverage, which places the entire blame for children's bad behaviour on the shoulders of their parents.

We feel that blaming the parents doesn't offer any solutions, or help the children or the people affected by difficult youth behaviour.

We speak to thousands of parents who are experiencing problems with their children concerning issues such as truancy and law breaking and find that most are well aware of their responsibility but are struggling to find a solution, or to know what action they can take to change the cycle. Many of these parents express feelings of isolation, frustration and anger that they have been asking for help for some time but feel unheard.

We totally agree that parents and carers play an extremely important role in their children's lives but we also recognise that families do not live in a vacuum and other influences will always play a major part in any child's development. Rather than blame parents shouldn't we put our energies into supporting them?

PETER ELDRID

Deputy chief executive

Parentline Plus