The Parent-Infant Project (PIP): Outreach Programmes

The Parent-Infant Project's outreach programmes include

England's Lane Hostel: supporting homeless families with babies

Homelessness has a negative impact on the health and social functioning of families and children, and yet the services provided for families in homeless accommodation are often insufficient for the developmental needs of babies.

Parents struggling with the stress of homelessness need effective interventions to support their parenting. After consulting with homeless families, the PIP team developed a pilot service for parents and babies living in temporary accommodation in England's Lane, a newly opened homeless hostel for 150 families with children under the age of 5.

England's Lane is a council owned and run hostel that provides temporary accommodation to otherwise homeless families. The hostel hosts families from diverse cultural backgrounds, many of whom are reluctant or unable to access conventional services.

A PIP therapist holds a weekly parent-infant group in tandem with the Baby Clinic held in the hostel's basement communal space. The group, which has been running for 18 months, aims to support the developing parent-infant relationship and to help this very vulnerable group of (usually) mothers and infants to make contact with the other services they need.

During sessions, parents are encouraged to play with their children on the mats on the floor, usually while they wait their turn to see the health visitor at the Baby Clinic - although many parents now come down solely for the group and to see other parents and children.

The primary aim is to provide emotional support for parents of young children, through providing a space for parents and infants to meet others and to interact with the psychotherapist.

For many of these parents the space provided and the encouragement and modelling to interact with their babies can be a welcome contrast to the practical concerns which can preoccupy them.

At times the psychotherapist and health visitor may work together with a family to address specific concerns, very much adapting to the constantly shifting dynamics within the group.

The effectiveness of the group in supporting parents, aiding in infants' development and facilitating positive parent-infant interactions is being evaluated with a range of measures.

A research psychologist meets with parents and infants in their own rooms to carry out the Bayley Scales of infant development, a semi-structured interview regarding their experiences of parenting, and to take a short video-clip of free play which is later coded for a number of interaction constructs.

This project is supported by the SEI Cares Fund.

Back to top

New Beginnings course for mothers and babies in prisons

The Parent-Infant Project has developed a four-week learning and experience-based course that supports the early attachment relationship between mothers and babies in prisons.

The aims of the course are to increase positive interactions between mother and infant, to increase the mothers' understanding of child development and their own baby's cues, and to help those mothers for whom it is relevant to start thinking about being separated from their baby.

Both mother and infant attend the course for a full day each week over the four week period, and facilitators guide them through a range of topics including thinking about how they were parented and their experiences of childhood, and thinking about their own baby's thoughts and emotions.

A pilot project, comprising six courses completed in HMPs Holloway and Bronzefield, was completed in December 2005, following which a three-year collaborative research initiative was developed with HM Prison Service to deliver the course in three Mother Baby Units for 3 years, with an evaluative component built in through comparison sites.

The Home Office funds the courses, whilst the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation funded the initial pilot course, and the Anna Freud Centre funds an evaluation of the programme.

Evaluation comprises of exploring changes both in maternal reflective functioning (RF) using the Parent Development Interview (PDI), and in characteristics of the interaction between mother and child using videotaped free-play sessions, which are later coded using the Coding Interactive Behaviours scale.

Back to top

Belsize Priory Health Centre (BPHC) Parent-Infant Group

Over three years ago, the Anna Freud Centre joined a consortium of local mental health services to provide the local Sure Start with emotional intervention services for young children and their families. Since it began, the BPHC parent-infant group has been facilitated by an Anna Freud Centre PIP psychotherapist and a nursery nurse co-worker.

The AFC PIP therapist offers specialist parent-infant psychotherapy to the most vulnerable babies and their parents in the busy health centre. The therapist also regularly consults Sure Start staff about their own cases.

The aim of the service is to give emotional support to parents with babies up to the age of twelve months, and it is run on a drop-in basis. It is primarily attended by mothers, although fathers are welcome too, and attendees are from a wide range of backgrounds.

Parents come for a number of reasons: a desire simply to interact with other parents; to give their baby a chance to interact with other babies; to gain either emotional or practical support and advice; or simply to get out of the house.

It is hoped that parents gain the support that they need through these interactions with the facilitators, with other mothers, and with other babies at various stages of development.

The role that the group plays for parents and infants is being evaluated by a research psychologist. Parents and infants are videotaped in free play within the group and are then offered the chance to watch back the video clip, reflecting upon the experience for both parties. They are also asked to complete a questionnaire exploring their use of the group, experiences of parenthood and general support available to them.

For more information on all of these projects please contact Tessa Baradon, manager and lead clinician of the Anna Freud Centre Parent Infant Project, on tessa.baradon@annafreud.org.

Back to top

To view more information about the Parent-Infant Project, follow the links below