Why it matters
Pregnancy and early childhood set the foundations for lifelong health and wellbeing. With the right support from the start, all babies and young children can enjoy happy childhoods and go on to fulfil their potential.
Conception to a child starting school is widely recognised as a unique window of opportunity to influence a child’s lifelong emotional and physical health.
Pregnancy through to a child’s first five years is a critical time for their development and long-term health.
Early childhood development is multi-faceted, dynamic and occurs in the context of a whole range of influences from;
- the most intimate caregiving relationships in the home
- social support and neighbourhood opportunities for play
- learning and health
- structural factors such as employment, housing and income.
The capacities of caregivers and the quality of children’s caregiving environments can make a huge difference to the wellbeing and development of babies and young children.
The early moments of life offer an unparalleled opportunity to build the brains of the children who will build the future. During the first 1001 days, millions of neurons and connections form and the way our brains develop are a result of the interplay between genetics and our environment. This is a period when we are particularly susceptible to positive or negative experiences, which strengthen or harm brain development. As a result, exposure to adversity during this period could have longterm implications. Whilst early experiences don’t completely determine the future, getting things right during this period lays great foundations for future positive experiences.
Reducing pressures on families equals better outcomes for children
Parenting is difficult and can present challenges for all parents. Some families experience additional adversity that makes raising children much harder.
Added pressures such as substance abuse, poverty, domestic abuse and social isolation can mean that parenting is not a level playing field. Without support, these problems can perpetuate, affecting family life in the here and now, but also children’s future outcomes.
Building the capabilities of parents through social support, encouraging self-efficacy and improving parent, child and couple relationships can drastically cut through added pressures and put the child’s wellbeing front and centre.
Engaging families and communities in co-production, putting them at the heart of designing services and support, further enables access to the help they actually need and makes programmes or services more likely to create positive change.
Better Start’s approach means that no one slips through the cracks
Current systems are failing to provide young children and their families with the foundations they need. They lack the focussed local leadership, seamless support and sustained investment that is needed. Many of the services that touch the lives of young families were developed decades ago. All too often, services are fragmented and siloed, leaving families falling between the cracks.
There is a chasm between early health services and the start of school, with piecemeal provision in between.
The Better Start approach ensures that services are workable and aligned with need, and that obstructions that prevent families from engaging with them are removed.
The benefits for society are obvious: healthy and happy children; satisfied and secure parents; and a fully engaged workforce.
Preventative action reduces pressure and financial burden on local authorities and other organisations.
It’s been proven that work from the start can effectively prevent the negatives impact of trauma and other negative pressures from impacting outcomes. Prevention can also save huge amounts of money compared to funding expensive remedial efforts further down the line.
The Blackpool Specialist Parent-Infant Relationship service has estimated that for every £1 spent on preventative services supporting parent-infant and child relationships, there will be cost savings in later, more costly children’s and adult services equating to £13. This does not include the impact for the parent and child in their emotional and economic wellbeing across their life course, which could be up to £59 per £1 spent.
Preventative action does not mean the same thing for every area, and its approach needs to be considered and bespoke. Better Start’s ‘Systems Building’ framework aims to address the fragmented provision for families during pregnancy and early childhood from the ground up, creating pathways to services that have been co-designed with parents and reflect the voice of the infant and child.
