Baby and Me is at the vanguard of a growing movement in strategy and practice working to address key areas of concern for child protection and family justice, in particular the rising numbers of infants entering care in the first days and weeks of life.
This innovative work – which involves changes to service, practice and professional cultures and attitudes - follows the evidence to work in trauma-informed and relationship-based ways with parents at risk of, or in the wake of, losing care of their infants in public family law proceedings.
Research in Practice conducted a mixed methods evaluation of Baby and Me between May 2020 and July 2022 which explored the work of the service; the experiences of parents working with Baby and Me; the embedding of the work alongside health, social care, family justice and within the wider local system, and impacts of the service in relation to key aims identified in a theory of change workshop at the start of the evaluation.
Baby and Me was initiated through the long-term strategic partnership between Newport local authority and Barnardo’s, and in the context of a wider commitment to developing trauma informed practice at Newport City Council. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in Wales occurred within the first six months of the Baby and Me service and had a substantial impact on how the programme was delivered in this period.