An interview with our Guest Contributor, Claire Pentin

Claire, with over 35 years of experience in early years, education, childcare, and youth work, what inspired you to dedicate your career to developing services for children and young people?

As a child I was lucky to be brought up in a stable working class family, with good values and role models.  I knew when I was choosing options at school that I wanted to work with children from an early age. I had volunteered with brownies and scouts as a young leader when I was at school.  I was super excited to enrol on the NNEB course at college when I was 16yrs old. This was a game changer for me, particularly around confidence.  I initially chose a career in education supporting more vulnerable children in the classroom, I also got the opportunity to help with the setup of a new nursery class in a school.  This was really the starting point of wanting to understand more about how children play and learn.  I went on to work for the local authority early years team and supported childcare providers setting up as childminders, out of school clubs and nurseries, getting them ready for Ofsted registrations. I was also a quality assurance assessor.  This was the catalyst for wanting to strive forward in supporting others to develop services and I haven’t looked back since then.

Reflecting on your extensive career, what has been your proudest moment or achievement in your professional journey?

Probably one of the proudest moments was achieving my Masters degree at the age of 45. Education and writing have never been my strong point and it takes a lot of thought for me to put things on paper. Never in a million years did I ever think I could achieve this. The key for me achieving this was because I was passionate and interested about the subject matter. I learnt that to inspire learning – particularly in adults we think about andragogy – the understanding of the science and practice of how adults learn.

I think about this as a leader and how we go about understanding parents needs around learning about parenting skills.

Can you share some of the key lessons you’ve learned from your experiences and role models that have influenced your professional practice?

I have been fortunate to have worked for several inspiring and dedicated leaders, that gave me confidence to push myself to the next stage of my career. Communication is top of my list of lessons learnt,  if we can communicate clearly and explain and take teams on the journey with you then the rest should fall into place.  The other key is creating professional and collaborative relationships – there is no “I “ in team work.    

As the leader of three Mother and Baby Units for the Prison Service, what unique challenges do you face, and how do you address them to ensure the best outcomes for both mothers and their children?

Working within such a unique service can offer many challenges from practical issues of just working in a prison to the standard practices of partnership working,  running a nursery and to co-ordinating services around the children. It’s key to have a strong working relationship with the mums, prisons staff and partners such as midwives, health visitors, children social care, ensuring that we collaborate in order to not only support the women in their sentence planning and rehabilitation but also ensuring that the babies individual needs are met and that the women have full parental responsibility were deemed appropriate by children social care.

Claire, could you explain why mother and baby units are so crucial within the prison service and the impact they have on both mothers and their children?

There has been lots of discussion about why babies should or should not be in the care of the women who have received custodial sentences. New rigorous guidance, Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), and Maternal Separation from Children up to the Age of Two in Women’s Prisons came out in September 2021 and updated in May 2023 that transformed the way women who were pregnant were dealt with when coming into custody.  New teams that are dedicated to the peri-natal pathway were set up to ensure the care of women who were pregnant on coming into to custody or had a child who was under two out in the community. The babies are not prisoners and are able to leave the prison at any time with family members to maintain family ties and relationships. The Mums report back on leaving us how grateful they have been for the opportunity to have this vital and precious time with the child, creating strong bonds and attachments. Many women say they have had the opportunity to move away from their offending behaviour which if they had stayed in the community may not have done so and the potential for their child to be placed in to care. We know from research the importance of early brain development and the impact of trauma such as domestic violence has on creating attachment, healthy relationships and how the quality of parenting can affect this development.

The For Baby’s Sake Trust aims to break the cycle of domestic abuse and improve outcomes for babies. How important do you think integrated services are in achieving this goal, and what role do you see them playing in the future?

Breaking the cycle of all traumatic experiences in particular the impact of domestic abuse and parental conflict on families is something that needs to continue to be highlighted. We need it at the forefront of every organisation that supports children and their families,  from midwifery/health, nursey education, school, through to university and the workplace. Building in more research around the impact early trauma has on children, understanding how it impacts on early brain developed so very early on. We can only break this cycle if services understand this. Multi agency training from light touch basic knowledge to those that are working directly with the people who are affected directly on a day-to-day basis.  

Domestic abuse is a critical issue that affects many families. How do the mother and baby units address and support mothers who have experienced domestic abuse?

On the MBU we recognise that majority of the women will have experienced their own adverse childhood experiences such as exposure to domestic violence and are more likely to have had poor outcomes for themselves as a child and early teen and therefore more likely to be unable to self-regulate their own emotions and sustain relationships as an adult.  Our staff are trained in the Solihull Approach which uses the principles of containment , reciprocity, and behaviour management. This approach allows the staff to work with each of the mums to help them receive and understand the emotional communication and containment without being overwhelmed and enable the mother to communicate this back.  It enables the mother to restore the capacity to think and start to regulate their anger, guilt or anxiety they may feel. 

Can you discuss the importance of collaboration between prison services and external organisations like The For Baby’s Sake Trust in providing comprehensive support for vulnerable families?

Working collaboratively is vital, even more so when working in the Prison sector. Having a range of organisation that we can draw upon to seek specialist advice and support is so key in order that we can support the mothers and their babies.  Moving forward I hope to be able to build a great working relationship with The For Baby’s Sake Trust and look at how we can ensure that women who have experienced domestic abuse are able to break the cycle to improve the lives of their children and transform life chances for the whole family.

What advice would you give to someone starting their career in early years education or childcare, particularly those aspiring to leadership roles?

I started my career in 1990 as a nursery nurse working in the education sector.  I wasn’t academic at school, middle of the road as they said back then. Childcare can be seen as a nice “fluffy” job,  for those who aren’t very academic – that’s where I disagree. As childcare workers we are privileged look after the most previous thing a parent can have. I was very lucky to work with some very good leaders who encouraged me to try new things. I grew in confidence because of these leaders and gradually worked my way through several roles that gave me opportunities to have difference experiences.  I was encouraged to get further qualifications and to the point in 2017 I achieve a master degree.  Who’d have thought that back in 1988 when I did my GCSE’s.  I’m still no academic but I do like to understand how theory is put into practice. My advice to any inspiring early years leader is,  get stuck in,  learn the work on the ground, learn from experience, push yourself – even if it means you don’t always get paid at that point for those responsibilities.  Learn from others around you, open your eyes to opportunities, and don’t be afraid to try something new.

Looking ahead, what are your hopes and aspirations for future policies affecting children’s services and family support in the UK?

I am extremely passionate about understanding and sharing the impact of trauma has on children.  I have found it very interesting exploring the use of the Solihull approach to help our staff working with the women in prison understand the impact of their early brain development and how this has potentially impacted on their life choices and how their experiences have led them to where they are now.  I know that trauma can never be eradicated but we can support mums to understand the impact this has had on them and emphasise how we can mitigate this pattern of behaviour impacting on their own children. 

If you’d like to be involved in our Guest Contributor series, please email daisyobrien@forbabyssake.org.uk