Nursery World - Babies in lockdown: ‘perfect storm’ caused by withdrawal of key services

The pandemic has caused a ‘perfect storm’ where vital services and support for pregnant mothers and babies were withdrawn from many families at a time when they needed it most, according to the First 1001 Days Movement.

The alliance of organisations spanning the children, family, mental health, maternity and baby sectors, said that the redeployment of health visitors, reduction in contacts with families by many services, and pivot to digital and telephone service delivery – where babies are often invisible – all hampered services’ ability to protect the youngest and most vulnerable members of society.

Emerging findings from an online survey carried out by First 1001 Days Movement in partnership with ISOS Partnership, highlight the extent to which services for babies have been impacted.

The national policy vacuums that existed during the first months of the pandemic set the scene for significant local variation in the service offer to under-twos, they said.

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