No one wants to see my baby publication

Babies in lockdown, a new joint publication from Home-Start UK

Executive Summary

Challenges for building back better for babies

As charities that exist to support families during pregnancy and in the earliest years of a child’s life, Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK and the Parent-Infant Foundation have been working together since spring 2020 to highlight the impact of the pandemic on pregnant women, new babies and their families.

This latest report shows that  COVID-19  and the measures introduced to control it are still having a significant impact on babies, their families and the services that support them. The UK Government’s recent focus on, and investment in, the first 1001 days through their Best Start for Life vision and funding is very welcome. However, there remains a “baby blindspot” in COVID-19 recovery efforts and a shortage of funding for voluntary sector organisations and core services like health visiting to offer the level of support required to meet families’ needs. Without urgent action to secure recovery, we fear that the pandemic will leave permanent scars on the provision of support for babies and young children. The impact of new initiatives and policies will be limited if services around the country have not recovered from the pandemic, let alone had the opportunity to build back better.

We have undertaken  research with families and with professionals who work with them.

In August 2020, our Babies in Lockdown report shared insights into the impact that COVID-19 was having on babies and their parents of all backgrounds from across the UK. That research found that COVID-19 and the lockdown affected parents, babies and the services that support them in diverse ways. Some parents struggled enormously, while others thrived. Some services were badly affected, others did more than ever. The report shone a spotlight on huge disparities between different families and communities and highlighted how the pandemic is exacerbating these underlying inequalities. Put simply, we found that families already facing greater adversity were often hardest hit by the pandemic.

This autumn, we returned to some of the parents who had taken part in the initial research to understand in-depth how the pandemic continues to impact them. We also sent out a brief survey to professionals and volunteers who work with babies and their families. This short report captures the key themes from this research and other emerging evidence.