BookTrust and Baby Box: giving babies the best start in life

Published on: 05 September 2024

BookTrust has teamed up with The Children's Foundation's Baby Box project to help NHS workers bring reading into the homes of vulnerable families in the North East.

Supporting new parents during hard times

Becky Humphreys is a Specialist Health Visitor for Complex and Vulnerable Families at the Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust. She and her team make home visits to support parents who may have complex mental health needs, who may be asylum seekers, or experiencing domestic violence.

In her day-to-day work, being able to build trusted relationships with families is crucial. "We're in a position where we're able to support families to make changes they want to make, during their darkest times of need," she says.

The cost-of-reading crisis

Becky – who has been in her role for 15 years - says the number of parents she works with who are using food banks is the highest she's ever seen.

"The pride the families we support have in their children is enormous, but so is the pressure to provide the most basic things for their children," says Becky. "Parents are having to make choices they've never had to.

"For some, engaging their children with books isn't something they're able to prioritise - they are prioritising keeping a roof over their heads."

For Becky and her team, books are an essential tool during home visits. "We use books with families in so many different ways," says Becky. "Books help us look at a baby's social development, their speech and language, and their fine motor skills. As a health professional, I want to know your baby can turn a book's pages, point at them and grab your attention to look at the book.

"When you're on a home visit and you ask a family: 'Have you got a book I can use to show you something?', it's hard for that family to have to say: 'No. I haven't.'"

BookTrust and Baby Box

BookTrust has teamed up with The Children's Foundation to support its Baby Box project – which reaches the most vulnerable families in Gateshead and Newcastle via the home visits made by Becky and her team. Beautifully curated boxes are delivered to first-time parents who are most in need of support, packed with essential items to get families started with baby care, as well as developmentally stimulating toys and books.

"There's everything in the box that we need to talk about as health visitors, like safe sleep, safe weaning, and building a relationship with your baby," says Becky. "It gives us a visual prop that helps create that constant flow of conversation, so it doesn't feel like we're just ticking off a list."

She adds: "When families know we've supported them to receive this box, they'll look at us as if to say: 'Yeah, you've got me this. I know I can trust you now'. That's a key moment for us."

Demonstrating the importance of books for babies

Through its partnership with The Children's Foundation, BookTrust has gifted book packs to more than 500 vulnerable families in Gateshead and Newcastle, by placing Bookstart Toddler packs inside Baby Boxes. Each Bookstart Toddler pack has two expertly chosen books for children in their early years, as well as rhyme cards and a finger puppet to encourage new parents to play, sing, and share books with their new baby.

Becky says: "Being given the BookTrust books takes that pressure away from a family who's thinking: 'My health visitor has said I need to get a book for my baby. Where am I going to find an extra £5 this week?'

"If I've got the books in my hand, I can say to families: 'This is for you. It doesn't matter about the words. Just look at the pictures and talk about them. Use the same book. It doesn't matter if you use it over and over again. Children like to hear the same stories repeated to them.' That's the first step.

"I'll say to parents: 'When I come back to visit in three months, I want to see that your little one can look at the pictures on the pages. It doesn't matter if they drop the books. It doesn't matter if they chew them. I want to see that they can pick a book up. I want to see that they can drop it on the floor. That's a good sign for me.'"

She adds: "The BookTrust books are of an amazing quality. Having something to engage a family with reading can massively help."

Making a difference to children's lives

Thanks to its network of more than 6,000 partners across the England, Wales and Northern Ireland – including libraries, charities and community organisations – BookTrust offers targeted support to children who may be missing out on opportunities to engage with reading in their early years.

"Being able to partner with other charities like The Children's Foundation means BookTrust can pursue pathways that ensure our book packs are reaching the families who need them the most," says Shauni Sanderson, Partnerships Manager for BookTrust in the North.

"We're so pleased to equip NHS experts like Becky with the tools they need to build a relationship with new families and help make reading part of more children's lives from birth."

---

• What needs to happen to support every family to read together regularly in the early stages of a child's life? Read BookTrust's four proposals in Reading Together, Changing Children's Lives
• Donate to help BookTrust's work to support more families to feel the life-changing benefits of reading together