How you can back our call to support #BabiesInLockdown
Read and Tweet the report
I’m backing the call from @Bestbeginnings, @homestartuk and @ParentInfantFdn to support #BabiesInLockdown and invest in their future to improve outcomes, save money and reduce inequalities. Read the report:
Tweet
Share your Babies in Lockdown story
How have you been coping during lockdown? Share your experience on our social media platforms to continue the conversation surrounding childbirth during lockdown. Share your #BabiesInLockdown story using the hashtag.
Join The Conversation
All week we’ll be sharing stories and facts from #BabiesInLockdown across social media. On Friday at 11 there will be a live Facebook discussion with Dr Ranj and a representative from each of the charities. Join us and help spread the message that we need to build back better.
About the report
This report should be referenced as:
Babies in Lockdown: listening to parents to build back better (2020). Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK, and the Parent-Infant Foundation. UK.
Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK and Parent-Infant Foundation, all leading organisations advocating for parents and babies, commissioned Critical Research to work with them to gain insights into the impact COVID-19 is having on babies and their parents of all backgrounds from across the UK.
We were supported by young parents and influencers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in the development, testing and promotion of the survey in our endeavour to capture and represent the experiences of parents of all ages and backgrounds.
The online survey was live between 29th April to 3rd June 2020.
Acknowledgements
We are deeply grateful to all the respondents who completed our survey and shared their experiences with us. Without your input we would not have been able to raise these issues on your behalf, and on behalf of the many other parents and babies whose lives have been so dramatically changed.
This has been a collaborative project with input from many organisations and individuals from concept to delivery. We are indebted to Critical Research who kindly undertook this research on our behalf in a pro-bono capacity, and, in particular to Dr Nick Williams, Qualitative Research Director and April Diss who freely gave up so much of their time.
The survey was developed by Alex Rhodes and Alison Baum from Best Beginnings; Dr Nick Williams from Critical Research; Becky Saunders and Peter Grigg from Home-Start UK; Sally Hogg and Beckie Lang from the Parent-Infant Foundation; Dr Alain Gregoire and Emily Slater from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance.
We would like to extend our thanks to The Chief Midwifery Officer, Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, Baroness Julia Cumberlege and Alison Spiro who reviewed the Survey and contributed questions to it, and to the parents of different ages and backgrounds who tested the survey prior to its launch.
Data entry and analysis was led by Dr Nick Williams and Becky Saunders, with contributions from Annys Webb and Amanda Julius.
Many organisations and individuals were instrumental in ensuring that the survey was disseminated far and wide to capture the voices of parents up and down the UK, working to ensure a breadth of experiences were captured from parents from a diverse range of communities, ages and backgrounds. Special thanks go to the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, Approachable Parenting, Selina Sagnia, Rachael Buabeng, Clotilde Abe and Dr Ranj for your active promotion of the survey across social media and ongoing amplification of messages from this report.
Report authors
Becky Saunders, Child Psychotherapist and Head of Policy & Development at Home-Start UK Sally Hogg, Head of Policy and Campaigning at the Parent-Infant Foundation.
With contributions from:
Alison Baum OBE, Founder and CEO of Best Beginnings
Nilushka Perera and Rose Davidson from the Evaluation, Impact and Policy team at Best Beginnings Amanda Julius and Stephanie Jones, Volunteers at Best Beginnings
Alex Rhodes, PhD student and researcher at Best Beginnings
Agnes Agyepong, Parent Engagement Programme Manager at Best Beginnings
Dr Beckie Lang, CEO of the Parent-Infant Foundation
Lorraine Barclay, Best Beginnings
Alanna Clear, Senior Communications Manager at the Parent-Infant Foundation
Peter Grigg, CEO of Home-Start UK
Matt Hann, Head of Communications at Home-Start UK.
Babies in Lockdown 