Family Hubs and Start for Life Data - Find a freedom of information request

1. How many babies do you estimate there are aged 0-2 living in your local authority area currently?

2. What proportion of them accessed Start for Life services during the period 1 April 2022 to 1 April 2023?

3. The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme guide states that 10% of babies have a 'disorganised' attachment style which is associated with the worst developmental outcomes. (see Annex I: perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support on p81) What percentage of babies aged 0-2 in your Integrated Care System are you commissioning specialised parent-infant relationship services for? i.e. a clinical psychologist or child psychotherapist led service.

1. We estimate we have 12,606 families with babies/children aged 0-2 years living within our local authority area currently (5981 aged 0 and 6625 aged 1 as at 02/04/2024. There were are also 7030 aged 2 as at 02/04/2024). Our estimated population is based on the number of families with babies/children aged 0-2 years registered with a Lincolnshire GP in April 2024.

2. Lincolnshire County Council know the majority of our families with babies/children aged 0-2 years in Lincolnshire access Start for Life services. Those families that had a baby/child aged 2 years or under at time of engagement between 01/04/2022 to 01/04/2023 is 13,870. We have a transient population with families moving both into and out of Lincolnshire.

3. Lincolnshire County Council have not commissioned a specialist parent-infant relationship 'team' (e.g. a clinical psychologist or child psychotherapist led service), but we are working with partners as a collaborative team across the Lincolnshire system. We are taking a workforce approach which includes: antenatal team (family health workers), health visitors, early years practitioners, early years alliance - commissioned provider, early help team, working in partnership with Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (LPFT) and Parent Infant Foundation. Working in partnership with key strategic drivers including Lincolnshire Maternity Neonatal Voice Partnership (LMNVP) and Better Births Lincolnshire and our provider United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust (ULHT). This includes these teams accessing training in new evidence-based programmes including:

• New antenatal programme which includes parent-infant relationships (includes Antenatal Solihull).
• Practitioners trained in Mellow Bumps, Antenatal Solihull, VIG, Awareness training in attachment and bonding,
• Family and Baby project working within neonatal units.
• Therapeutic specialist worker within health visiting.
• Expansion of current peer support service through LPFT to support perinatal mental health mild to moderate.
• Recovery college.

This will therefore have a greater reach than just the 10% nationally estimated number of babies with a disorganised attachment style but pathways will be in place to ensure these families/babies are able to access the support they need.