National acclaim for Sefton baby bonding scheme

A Sefton based scheme which helps vulnerable parents to better bond with their newborns has been hailed in Parliament.

The Sefton Building Bonds and Attachment Service (BABS) was launched in January 2022 and is running a 12 month pilot scheme to help vulnerable parents within the borough to bond with their newborn babies, as well as promote positive mental health for new families.

Based across Sefton Council’s dedicated Family Wellbeing Centre network, the Sefton BABS pilot is being co-run by both the Local Authority and partners in the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The project has already garnered praise across the health industry and representatives from BABS were this week invited to present a special report to a special parliamentary panel in Westminster.

Psychologist Dr Lisa Marsland Hall of Mersey Care Foundation NHS Trust and Sefton Council’s Early Help Manager for Locality Services Majella Maguire were invited to present their work by the Parent Infant Foundation.

Sefton’s Majella Maguire said: “It certainly was an honour to be able to present our work so far on Parent Infant Mental Health and Wellbeing, especially in the 1001 days which is the time from conception through to the child’s second birthday.

“We are so proud to have been given this opportunity to showcase the work of BABS. By offering specialist, therapeutic parent-infant mental health support during pregnancy and in the postnatal period – we can help parents to 'separate out' their own past and present struggles and issues.

“This small window of opportunity in a person’s life to ‘get it right’ is so very important. To add to this, we are in a period where ‘Lockdown Babies’ and their families have had little or no social interactions and the need for support to development parent-infant bonds and attachment has increased further still.”

To find out more about the BABS service in Sefton visit https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/our-services/south-sefton/building-atachment-and-bonds-service

Majella Maguire and MerseyCare's Dr Lisa Marsland Hall with Andrea Leadsome MP