Sharing learning from the Thriving Babies: Confident Parents Programme

The 1,001 days from pregnancy to the second year of a child’s life are a critical time for development and set the foundations for children’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development (HM Government, 2021). The Born into Care report (Mason et al. 2022) highlighted that the number of infants in care proceedings have continued to increase in recent years; local authorities and national policymakers are concerned to better understand and reverse this trend.

The Thriving Babies: Confident Parents (TBCP) pilot programme is a multiagency partnership of local authority children’s services (Early Help and Social Care) and two voluntary sector providers with a national scope – Barnardo’s and Home-Start – in Manchester. The Partnership provides perinatal support to (prospective) parents who are recognised as having specific vulnerabilities including learning difficulties, mental ill health, domestic abuse, substance misuse, social isolation, or they are care experienced, a care leaver or have had a child previously removed from their care. TBCP interventions are led by a key family practitioner from one of the three partner agencies who deliver evidence-based parenting and therapeutic support to parents. A Think Family Coordinator within the programme provides connectivity with adult-focused services as required for individual families, for example substance misuse, mental health and/or learning disability.

The first year of the programme was funded by the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, and it now continues with funding from Manchester City Council.

IPC carried out the independent evaluation of TBCP between May 2021 and August 2022.

The workshop will be delivered by by Nicola Bailey, team manager of Thriving Babies Confident Parents, Children’s Services, Manchester City Council and Dr Agnes Turnpenny, IPC Consultant and project manager of the evaluation.

Attendees

The workshop will be relevant for health and social care commissioning colleagues who have an interest in contributing to and hearing from others particularly around perinatal early help and edge of care services, or those with an interest in evaluating complex interventions.

Agenda

This workshop will present experiences from the first two years of programme implementation including its impact and initial outcomes. It will provide significant time for facilitated small group discussions, encouraging participants to share their own experience of good practice and offer solutions to challenges.

Workshop format

The workshop will be delivered online and will feature a blend of presentations and smaller group discussions to enable participation by all delegates.

Date

28th March 2023 14.00 - 16.30

Microsoft Teams

Bookings

This event is free to Alumni (and current students) of the IPC Certificate in Commissioning and Purchasing for Public Care.

Invitations are sent to alumni network members directly, so please check your email to register for this event. If you do not receive a booking link, and you believe you are an Alumni, please email ipc-alumni@brookes.ac.uk