The Centre for Early Childhood – a foundation set up by the Princess of Wales – has announced an expansion to a key project.
Princess Kate’s pioneering work in the early years received a key boost this morning as a project aimed at promoting infant wellbeing will benefit thousands more families in the UK.
On Friday, the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood – set up by Kate in June 2021 – announced an expansion of the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) trial to eight more NHS sites across the UK this year.
Health visitors use the tool, which uses indicators such as facial expressions and activity levels to understand how well babies are bonding with their parents during routine checks.
The centre funded the trial’s first phase in 2023, which reported “overwhelmingly” positive results.
It’s understood the Princess of Wales is thrilled by the expansion of the trial, a spokesperson for the HRH, added: “The work of the Centre for Early Childhood continues to shine a light on just how important the first five years of life are for any baby and the role we can all play. The Princess is delighted to see the expansion of the ADBB trial and looks forward to following it closely.”
The Princess saw the ADBB being used during an official visit to Copenhagen in 2022 and was so impressed by it that she started to explore whether it could be introduced in the UK. After her input, the Centre for Early Childhood then worked with the iHV and Oxford University to test it in this country.
The ADBB tool focuses on a baby’s social behaviours such as eye contact, facial expression, vocalisation, and activity levels to help practitioners and families better understand the ways babies express their feelings.
Providing support at this critical time, when babies’ brains are developing faster than at any other time in their lives, can have a life-long impact.
Health visitors involved in phase one reported that this tool allowed them to have more meaning conversations with parents and carers about the emotional wellbeing of their baby, promote parent-infant interactions, attachment and bonding and crucially identify those babies and families in greater need of support.
During her cancer treatment and recovery, Kate was kept updated on the work of the Centre for Early Childhood as it continues to deliver tangible action.
This includes the rollout of the initial ADBB trial and the Business Taskforce’s report, which was published last May.
The second phase, funded by a £210,000 grant from the Centre for Early Childhood, will build upon the findings of the first and will focus on the impact of the tool, and how it is experienced by parents.
The evaluation will also look at whether more babies receive the additional support they need as a result of the tool helping health visitors to identify concerns as early as possible.
Phase two will run until March 2026 in the following NHS Trusts: Ayrshire and Arran Health Board, Scotland; Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, Wales; Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare; Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, England; Northern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland; Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust -Doncaster, England; Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust -North Lincs, England; South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, England.
The areas were chosen because they expressed an interest in delivering the measure and had the systems and processes in place to support practitioners to undertake the training and embed the tool into their practice.
Christian Guy, Executive Director of The Centre for Early Childhood, said: “We know that warm, loving, responsive interactions with those closest to them during the earliest weeks and months of a baby’s life are crucial in promoting positive brain development.
“Health visitors do such a vital job in our communities. I am delighted that we are now able to give more teams across the UK the support they need to help thousands of families to better understand their babies and build nurturing relationships, laying the strongest possible foundations for all that is to come in the years that follow.”
As Kate continues her gradual return to royal duties, her work on early childhood will continue to be a key focus.
