Programme on child development, health and financial support
Alison Ritchie, Barnardo's You First Children's Service
Manager
September 2010
You First is a 20-week programme for new parents aged under 21
with a baby under the age of one. The programme uses a mix of
hands-on experiential and group work learning to help improve
parenting capabilities and facilitate access to universal and
specialist services. Participants live in the 15% most
deprived areas of Scotland (SIMD, 2006) and may have experienced
the care system themselves.
Where You First differs from many other programmes is that it
provides a direct grant incentive for participants of approximately
£20 per week, paid directly into their bank account. This
"positive conditionality" approach has been tried elsewhere
(notably in New York and South America) but has yet to be tried
with first-time parents.
During the 20-week programme, participants consider four main
areas:
- childhood development
- health and wellbeing
- financial capability/inclusion
- "personal project" that will benefit the relationship between
parent and child
Participants will also gain a SQA recognised qualification at
SCQF Level 4 when they complete the programme.
The programme involves a mix of parent-only and parent/child
sessions with crèche facilities provided for part of the day.
Sessions also involve parents taking turns to prepare lunch for the
group to encourage positive peer relationships within the
community.
The programme has been designed along with with the Scottish
Government Health, Education, Poverty and Early Years teams and we
were funded to run two test programmes in the NHS Lothian area (now
completed) and a further ten pilot programmes across NHS Lothian
which will be externally evaluated.
The results of the two test programmes were very
encouraging:
- All the parents are on course to get a qualification (SCQF
Level 4)
- 80% of the group thought that they were now getting all
financial entitlements or were in the process of getting them
- All parents reported having a more positive relationship with
their baby and understood the importance of play and what to look
for in their child's development
- All participants in the programme now have a bank account and
the majority of parents are now budgeting on a regular basis and
some have begun to save regularly. All parents said they had better
support networks and were now aware of local services. Group
members continue to meet as friends.
For more details contact: Alison Ritchie, You
First Children's Service Manager: alison.ritchie@barnardos.org.uk