Parents to be

How can parents to be get extra help and support?

Some parents may have help from family and friends. Or from health services and other local agencies. But sometimes children’s services will need to work with parents to provide the extra help and support needed.

Parents to be do not have to wait until their baby is born to receive help. It is important they understand the different ways help and support can be provided to them. And the different agencies that might be able to provide this.  This includes understanding when children’s services may become involved and how they should work with children and families.

The right form of help will depend on the precise situation. But the help that a pregnant mother, father to be and their baby need may come via universal services, early help or from children’s services (child in need).  Read on for information and advice about each.

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What if children’s services receive information that makes then concerned about the safety of an unborn baby?

Children’s services departments sometimes receive information from someone worried about the safety of an unborn baby. This is called a referral. A referral may come from a member of the public or a family member. It can come from a practitioner involved with the family. This could be a midwife or a GP for example.  Where there are concerns that parents to be might struggle once their baby is born and their new-born baby may be at risk of harm, children’s services may want to assess the situation.

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What is a pre-birth assessment and what may happen after one is completed?

When an assessment is done in relation to an unborn baby, it is called a pre-birth assessment. A pre-birth assessment is carried out in much the same way as other social work assessments. But it is completed before a baby is born. It will include the social worker speaking with the mother’s midwife and other relevant health practitioners.

The assessment will aim to find out:

– Whether the family need, or will need, extra support

– Whether the baby will be safe when they are born.

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What is good practice when doing a pre-birth assessment?

It is important that parents to be know what they should be able to expect from children’s services. This includes knowing what they should be able to expect from a pre-birth assessment.

Government statutory guidance and decisions made by judges (case law) together make clear:

– What a high quality assessment should involve

– How children’s services should progress and share pre-birth assessments with parents to be.

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Does having had a child removed mean a new baby will also be removed from a parent?

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If a parent to be has been in the care system themselves, does that mean children’s services must become involved with their child?

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