The UK lockdown in March 2020 and other coronavirus (COVID-19) related restrictions prevented many families from accessing the support they needed. During this period, our implementation managers supported external organisations that were already delivering our scaled up Baby Steps programme to adapt it for virtual delivery.
Our Development and Impact team carried out an insights project to capture the learning from the process of adapting Baby Steps, to help inform our ongoing service development.
Authors: Aisling McElearney, Lauren Palmer, Hannah Walters, Georgia Hyde-Dryden, Julia Mayes, Victoria Joel, Michelle Maybury and Georgina Maisey.
Published: 2020
Blended and digital models of delivery provide significant opportunities for services to reach families in new locations and communities that are underserved.
Delivering services either fully online or using a blended model of online and face-to-face delivery, requires:
Our Scale-up Unit played an important leadership role in adapting Baby Steps in response to COVID-19.
Staff helped grow an effective community of practice among the sites delivering Baby Steps. They provided expert practice support and championed the development and use of innovative technological solutions in practice.
Analysing data routinely collected through service development and delivery can contribute important understanding and insight to help shape the development and implementation of services.
Ongoing learning and improvement can be supported by investing in online data collection tools, refining data collection and governance processes, and analysing routine data.
McElearney, A. et al (2020) Learning from adapting the Baby Steps programme in response to COVID-19. London: NSPCC.
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We partner with local organisations and communities to help them deliver evidence-based services and programmes for children and families.
We’ve released two episodes on how the NSPCC and its delivery partners have supported parents through our Baby Steps service and the insight we’ve gathered about our perinatal education programme.
Use our resources to find out about child health and development, spot and respond to signs of mental health issues and foster strong mental health and development in children.
We work directly with children and families either in their homes or at our bases across the UK and Channel Islands.
Work with children and families? Our information looks at risk and vulnerability factors that help identify whether children or families require extra support to help keep children safe.