Key message

Infants’ experiences, needs and rights must inform care planning, decision-making, and service delivery

The specific rights and needs of infants must be differentiated from those of older children and must be acted upon. Those in policy, planning and decision-making roles need to be knowledgeable about the principles of infant mental health, child development and the impact of trauma in infancy.

Further messages

Families struggling with pregnancies must receive the help and support they need, as early as possible

Intensive community-based support in early pregnancy should be available to all expectant mothers and partners who need it.

The children’s services workforce must be supported and enabled to meaningfully access the voice of infants

Careful interpretation of infant behaviour takes time, sensitivity, critical thinking, observation in different contexts, and testing out in the context of the child’s care relationships.

The needs and rights of infants should be at the heart of reforms to the Children’s Hearings System

Scotland’s Hearings System must be consistent in its ability to make legal decisions about the care of infants within their developmental timescales and must also contain significant expertise on infant mental health, child development and early trauma.

A healthy safe start for infants with additional needs requires all services to be attuned to their rights

For example, domestic abuse services should include interventions to promote the mutual recovery of mothers and infants, and support infant-mother attachment. Homelessness services should provide pathways to enhanced support for mothers with infants.