Governments are showing more and more interest in providing services to parents to help them fulfil their parenting roles. But what does "good" parenting mean? How can policies to support parents best be adapted to local culture? What is the most appropriate way to critically evaluate these policies? This edition of Early Childhood in Focus addresses these questions by looking at examples of parenting support programmes from the UK, USA, Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia, and identifies practical questions for policy makers, advocates and practitioners to consider.