Parent-Infant Foundation Annual Report shows an increased level of support for babies in the UK

The Parent-Infant Foundation is pleased to be ending 2022 on a high, with the knowledge that even more babies are being supported by specialised parent-infant relationship teams.

The Foundation’s mission is to support the growth and quality of specialised parent-infant relationship teams across the UK to give babies the best possible start to life, and its recent annual report shows that there are more teams across the UK than ever.

This year’s annual report covers just seven months since March 2022 and describes what the Foundation team has achieved, with our partners, and demonstrates the value and impact of our work. Despite the shorter period, due to a change in our financial year timeline, we are still pleased to be able to report clear progress.

One of our key areas of work involves supporting established and emerging specialised parent-infant relationship teams. Since March 2022, the number of teams has increased from 39 to 42. We have provided direct support to each of these new teams and been in contact with the 27 other emerging services or teams too.

The ways in which we have offered support included five free webinars reaching approximately 200 people, two virtual Network learning days, a number of newsletters and continuing to promote our Toolkit, which had over 3200 unique views between September 2021 and March 2022.

The work we do covers all regions across the UK. Highlights during this period include:

–          Undertaking an in-depth study in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg region of Wales exploring the role teams could play in that area, with recommendations for both the Welsh and UK Governments;

–          Working with the Scottish Government and health boards across Scotland to develop infant mental health services;

–          Keeping the challenges facing the most vulnerable babies firmly in the public eye through our policy and campaigning work. Throughout the period our work was covered in a range of print, online and broadcast media. This includes our ‘No one wants to see my baby’ report carried out in conjunction with Best Beginnings and Home-Start UK, which achieved over 1 billion media impressions. The report, highlighting the impact of pandemic restrictions on babies, helped position us as a thought leader on this topic.

Leading the First 1001 Days Movement, the Foundation has also worked with partners and allies across the sector and in Parliament to push Government to make a commitment to supporting the Best Start for Life Vision financially in the Autumn statement. The Government listened, announcing funds for Family Hubs and specifically for infant mental health. We are now focused on working with the 75 Start for Life funded areas to ensure the best outcomes for services and the babies they will support.

We have also launched an enhanced package of support that parent-infant relationship teams can buy into. This will enable us to provide a greater service to these teams and will also raise revenue to support the organisation.

Keith Reed, Chief Executive of the Parent-Infant Foundation said:

“Despite this being a shorter reporting year than usual, and with continuing challenges post pandemic, I’m delighted to see strong progress still being made and more parent infant relationship teams being created and supported. The fact we now have 42 specialised parent-infant relationship teams around the UK, with a further 27 emerging services, is excellent news for the future wellbeing of babies and their families.

“I would like to thank all our staff team, trustees, partners and of course generous funders for their continued commitment which enables us to provide the support and services we do to help teams grow and thrive, and in turn improves the future wellbeing of thousands of babies.

“We are pleased to see the reported progress but also recognise there is a lot more to be done. Even since this report was finalised, families are now facing additional challenges, with rising numbers living in poverty and struggling to heat their homes and feed their children due to the cost-of-living crisis and wider fiscal uncertainty. Our focus for the coming year will be to continue supporting teams and campaign for all areas across the UK to have these specialised services available, and support our youngest members of society for their futures.”

You can download the full report here.

The accounts and financial statements contained within this version of the report have been designed for a more general audience. The full official accounts can be found on the Charity Commission website.