First-time teenage parents can now benefit from support, advice and home visits to help them to ensure their babies get the best start in life.
Brent Council launched on Wednesday last week a new service called The Family Nurse Partnership, a public health programme to provide on-going, intensive support to new teenage mothers and their children.
Brent Family Nurse Partnership supervisor Wendy Sumpton said: “This programme has been running in the United States for a number of years now and has a good rate of success, so we are pleased that we are now able to bring it to Brent.
“It will be a great service that every teenager in the borough will be entitled to, just as they would be entitled to a midwife or to a GP, they will now also entitled to a family nurse, the benefits of which we will see in the years to come.”
The aim of the programme is to help equip young mothers and fathers with the knowledge, confidence and skills to ensure that their babies get the best start in life, and to help the young parents with life beyond pregnancy.
Pregnant teens will receive fortnightly home visits by highly trained nurses, starting in the early stages of pregnancy and continuing until the child’s second birthday.
Nurses will coach the expectant teenage mothers on how they can improve their chances of having a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby, develop the teens’ parenting knowledge and skills to help improve their child’s health and development, and improve the young parents’ economic self-sufficiency, by helping them to achieve their aspirations, such as employment or returning to education.
Speaking at the launch event, the director of public health at Brent Council, Dr Melanie Smith, said: “The launch of the Family Nurse Partnership is good news for expectant young parents in the borough who will receive expert help and guidance throughout their pregnancy and beyond to provide the best possible start in life for their new-born.
“Not only has the programme plenty of health benefits for both babies and young parents, it will also help tackle social mobility in the borough, as the young mothers and fathers receive guidance on how they can return to education and get back on the career ladder after becoming a parent.”
Funded by NHS England, the service was jointly developed by Brent Council and the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust to help improve the life chances of some of the most disadvantaged children and families in the borough and to help improve social mobility.
