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October 15, 2008: LifeLine nominated for award!
LifeLine has been nominated for the Children Young People and Families Awards for Bumps and Babes which has been short listed for the Early Years Award.
Bumps and Babes was an innovative response to some of the needs that LifeLine's Castle Green Children's Centre team found in the Goresbrook area of Dagenham, one of the poorest areas of the country. Over the past few years there has been a sharp reduction in antenatal support for expectant parents, and what provision there has been focussed strongly on the physical aspects of giving birth. Our Children's Centre staff found that many new parents were arriving at the Centre unprepared and often feeling unempowered in their new roles. New mothers in particular often expressed feelings of isolation in the first few months after giving birth.
The volunteer-led Bumps and Babes programme was set up to provide perinatal support, combining more traditional antenatal services with practical support for parents to be and new Mums. Run by parents, for parents and in contrast to some other programmes, Bumps and Babes real strength is that it promotes peer support with some additional training rather than the other way round. Often, it is the encouragement of other new mothers which makes the difference and leads to participants accessing other services such as the more formal ‘Getting Ready for Your Baby’ programme which is run by qualified parenting practitioners, straight after Bumps and Babes.
Bumps and Babes prepares participants to be parents, rather than just to give birth. It also connects new parents to each other so that they build a long lasting network of others in the same stage of life as them. The programme is designed to run at the same time as Midwifery visits to the Centre, providing an alternative to sitting in a waiting room before their appointments, for new and expectant parents.
As the aim of the programme is to combat isolation and is shown in the whole way the group is run, from comfy sofas to providing posh biscuits and nice coffee. The atmosphere of the session is critical to the success of the group. Making the sessions relaxed and comfortable creates an atmosphere where parents want to come and connect with others.
The Bumps and Babes team report that simple things like new participants being offered a cup of tea as they arrive or other members of the group greeting them, are the things that participants say have the biggest impact on them and keep them coming back. It’s about making the parents feel special, and this has ‘hooked’ many of them in to the Centre enough to begin to access other programmes.
Bumps and Babes has enabled many women who would otherwise be isolated and unaware of the wealth of provision available, to find themselves part of a vibrant peer support group. This has resulted in them:
• Forming long lasting social networks and peer support groups
• Accessing additional targeted parenting support and making better use of Children’s Centre and related provision (including employability support for some parents)
• Accessing Social Services and more intensive Family Support
• Increasing in confidence
• Becoming volunteers via the La Leché League programme
LifeLine has been nominated for the Children Young People and Families Awards for Bumps and Babes which has been short listed for the Early Years Award. Bumps and Babes was an innovative response to some of the needs that LifeLine's Castle Green Children's Centre team found in the Goresbrook area of Dagenham, one of the poorest areas of the country. Over the past few years there has been a sharp reduction in antenatal support for expectant parents, and what provision there has been focussed strongly on the physical aspects of giving birth. Our Children's Centre staff found that many new parents were arriving at the Centre unprepared and often feeling unempowered in their new roles. New mothers in particular often expressed feelings of isolation in the first few months after giving birth.
The volunteer-led Bumps and Babes programme was set up to provide perinatal support, combining more traditional antenatal services with practical support for parents to be and new Mums. Run by parents, for parents and in contrast to some other programmes, Bumps and Babes real strength is that it promotes peer support with some additional training rather than the other way round. Often, it is the encouragement of other new mothers which makes the difference and leads to participants accessing other services such as the more formal ‘Getting Ready for Your Baby’ programme which is run by qualified parenting practitioners, straight after Bumps and Babes.
Bumps and Babes prepares participants to be parents, rather than just to give birth. It also connects new parents to each other so that they build a long lasting network of others in the same stage of life as them. The programme is designed to run at the same time as Midwifery visits to the Centre, providing an alternative to sitting in a waiting room before their appointments, for new and expectant parents.
As the aim of the programme is to combat isolation and is shown in the whole way the group is run, from comfy sofas to providing posh biscuits and nice coffee. The atmosphere of the session is critical to the success of the group. Making the sessions relaxed and comfortable creates an atmosphere where parents want to come and connect with others.
The Bumps and Babes team report that simple things like new participants being offered a cup of tea as they arrive or other members of the group greeting them, are the things that participants say have the biggest impact on them and keep them coming back. It’s about making the parents feel special, and this has ‘hooked’ many of them in to the Centre enough to begin to access other programmes.
Bumps and Babes has enabled many women who would otherwise be isolated and unaware of the wealth of provision available, to find themselves part of a vibrant peer support group. This has resulted in them:
• Forming long lasting social networks and peer support groups
• Accessing additional targeted parenting support and making better use of Children’s Centre and related provision (including employability support for some parents)
• Accessing Social Services and more intensive Family Support
• Increasing in confidence
• Becoming volunteers via the La Leché League programme