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25 Aug, 2026Uncategorized

Healing from Adverse Childhood Experiences: A webinar series by For Baby’s Sake and The Leathersellers’ Foundation

by Daisy O'Brien

This Autumn, we're thrilled to be working on a series of free webinars with The Leathersellers' Foundation.

In this three-part webinar series exploring Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), specialist frontline providers will join For Baby’s Sake to shine a light on healing from childhood trauma, abuse and neglect. Each webinar will consider ACEs through a different lens, exploring how relational, trauma-informed practice can support healing, and prevent intergenerational harm.

Webinar schedule

29 September 2026, 2PM - 3PM
Parental substance abuse and the impact on babies and children

Join The For Baby’s Sake Trust and Adfam, for an insightful webinar exploring the impact of parental substance use on babies, children and families, and the intersection with wider complex needs.

Book your free place
21 October, 3PM – 4PM
Rewriting the story: Creative interventions that change systems and narratives for care-experienced people

Join The For Baby’s Sake Trust and Blue Cabin for a thought-provoking webinar exploring the connections between care experience, healthy relationships, domestic abuse and parenthood, while challenging narratives that focus on deficit rather than strengths, potential and resilience.

Book your free place
18 November, 2-3PM
TBC, details coming soon!

About The Leathersellers’ Foundation

Established in 1979, the Leathersellers’ Foundation is a grant funder that enables individuals and communities by working with charities; fosters opportunity through education; and supports the leather industry. 

Through its own independent income, generated from its investment portfolio, the Foundation distributes around £4m annually, primarily to charities working to prevent and tackle the consequences of Adverse Childhood Experiences.

2026/2027 will mark the culmination of the first five years of The Leathersellers’ Foundation’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Strategy. Over the course of this strategy, The Foundation will have awarded over £10m of grants to over 100 charities across the UK, helping to prevent and mitigate the consequences of ACEs for over 250,000 children.

Read The Foundation’s initial summary report on preventing and tackling Adverse Childhood Experiences here.

We are incredibly grateful to The Leathersellers’ Foundation for making this learning opportunity available to professionals across the UK.

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17 Aug, 2026Uncategorized

Expert Opinion: Breastfeeding and intimate partner violence

by Daisy O'Brien

At The For Baby’s Sake Trust, we know that tackling complex social challenges requires collaboration and learning from different perspectives. Our new Expert Opinion blog series shares conversations with thought leaders and practitioners whose work can deepen understanding of the issues affecting families and communities.

Please note, these interviews are not representative of The For Baby’s Sake Trust’s positions, policies, or opinions.

Exploring breastfeeding and intimate partner violence: a new programme of research

Breastfeeding can be an important and very personal part of becoming a parent. But for women who are experiencing abuse or controlling behaviour from a partner or ex-partner, breastfeeding may be affected in ways that we do not yet fully understand.

Manchester Centre for Health Psychology are developing a programme of research to learn more about women’s experiences of breastfeeding in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV). They also want to understand how health professionals and breastfeeding supporters can provide support that is safe, respectful and helpful.

About the Research Team

The programme is being led by Dr Stephanie Lyons, a lecturer in health psychology and researcher in the Division of Psychology and Mental Health at The University of Manchester. Health psychology Master’s students, Esme Purcell and Abigail Fletcher, have joined the team as part of their postgraduate study to support the early development of this programme.

We are also working with organisations that support families affected by domestic abuse and those who provide breastfeeding and infant feeding support. Their experience is helping us understand which questions are most important to explore.

What is health psychology? And how does it differ from other areas of psychology?

Health psychology looks at how our thoughts, feelings, behaviour, relationships and wider circumstances can affect our health and wellbeing.

People’s experiences of health and healthcare can be very different. What happens in our lives, our relationships, our mental health and the support around us can all affect how we experience health and make decisions about it.

This is why we are interested in listening to people’s experiences, rather than looking only at statistics or health outcomes. We want to understand what breastfeeding is actually like for women experiencing IPV, and what could make support feel safer and more helpful.

Can you tell us what inspired you to explore breastfeeding experiences in the context of intimate partner abuse?

We became interested in this topic after looking at research on the relationship between IPV and breastfeeding. Much of this research has focused on questions such as whether women experiencing IPV are more or less likely to start breastfeeding, or how long they continue breastfeeding. This research is important, but it tells us much less about what the experience of breastfeeding is actually like for women experiencing IPV.

For example, we know relatively little about how partners may influence or control breastfeeding, how women navigate breastfeeding in difficult or unsafe circumstances, or what kinds of support feel safe and helpful.

We therefore want to look beyond breastfeeding rates and outcomes to understand women’s experiences and the circumstances in which they make decisions about feeding their babies.

We have several aims for the early stages of our research:

  • To understand what we already know about breastfeeding and IPV, and identify the questions that still need to be answered.
  • To work with women who have experienced IPV and breastfed to hear their views about what researchers should be focusing on.
  • To work with organisations supporting families affected by IPV and those providing breastfeeding support, including For Baby’s Sake, to understand their experiences and priorities.
  • To explore how health professionals and breastfeeding supporters can provide safe and appropriate support when IPV is known or suspected.

We hope that this work will help us understand what women need from breastfeeding support when they are experiencing, or have experienced, abuse. We also want to understand how professionals and support services can respond in ways that respect women’s choices, safety and individual circumstances.

Why is breastfeeding an important topic to focus on? What does the current research tell us about breastfeeding experiences within the context of abuse?

Breastfeeding can be an important part of the health and wellbeing of both women and babies. It can also be a very personal experience, involving a woman’s body, her relationship with her baby and decisions about how she wants to feed.

For women experiencing abuse or controlling behaviour from a partner, these experiences may be more complicated. A woman’s decisions about whether, when and how to breastfeed may not always feel completely free.

There is a growing body of research on the relationship between IPV and breastfeeding, but much of it focuses on breastfeeding outcomes rather than women’s experiences. This means we know more about patterns in breastfeeding rates than we do about what happens day-to-day for women who are trying to breastfeed while experiencing abuse or controlling behaviour.

One study suggests that breastfeeding experiences within an abusive relationship can be complex and varied. Some abusive partners may pressure a woman to breastfeed, interfere with breastfeeding or expressing milk, or try to control when and where she feeds her baby. On the other hand, some women have described using breastfeeding in ways that help them cope with difficult situations. For example, breastfeeding may allow them to create some distance during a difficult interaction, keep their baby physically close, or give them a sense of confidence as a mother (Bomsta, 2022).

Breastfeeding can therefore mean very different things to different women. Even when breastfeeding gives someone confidence or a sense of being a good mother, wider pressures about breastfeeding can also lead to guilt or feelings of failure when breastfeeding is difficult, not possible or not what someone wants to do.

This is why we think it is important to understand women’s own experiences rather than making assumptions about why they choose to breastfeed, stop breastfeeding or feed their baby in different ways.

Health psychology can help us look at the whole picture. This includes how relationships, emotional wellbeing, experiences of trauma, social expectations and access to healthcare may all affect someone’s experience of breastfeeding.

Most importantly, we want to listen to women and work alongside organisations supporting families to understand what is helpful, what is not, and what could be done differently.

What do you hope this research will contribute to policy, practice or future support for families affected by domestic abuse?

Our research is still at an early stage, so we do not yet know what we will find or what changes may be needed. However, we hope that working with women who have experienced IPV and breastfeeding, alongside organisations supporting families, will help us focus on the questions that matter most to people affected by this issue.

In the longer term, we hope our research can help health professionals, breastfeeding supporters and other services better understand how IPV may affect breastfeeding. This could help to improve training, guidance and support for professionals, as well as the way services work together to support women and families.

We are particularly interested in hearing from people and organisations with experience of supporting families affected by IPV or providing breastfeeding and infant feeding support. If you have any questions about the research, or would like to share your experiences or views, please contact Dr Stephanie Lyons (stephanie.lyons@manchester.ac.uk).

Support and Resources

If reading this blog has raised questions about your own experiences of breastfeeding, infant feeding or your relationship, support is available.

For Baby’s Sake supports families affected by domestic abuse during pregnancy and the early years of a child’s life.

If you would like support with breastfeeding or infant feeding, you can also contact a breastfeeding support service such as The Breastfeeding Network or speak to your midwife, health visitor or other healthcare professional.

You do not need to be certain that what you are experiencing is abuse before asking for support.

If you are in immediate danger, please follow For Baby’s Sake’s usual emergency guidance:

  • call 999 and ask for the police. If you are calling from a mobile and cannot speak, listen to the instructions and press 55 when prompted.
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03 Jul, 2026Uncategorized

Our response to ‘Rethinking Domestic Abuse in Child Protection: responding differently’ 

by Daisy O'Brien

The For Baby’s Sake Trust welcomes the ‘Rethinking Domestic Abuse in Child Protection: responding differently‘ report, which provides much-needed insight into how domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is understood and responded to within child protection systems. The report reinforces what we have long seen through our work with families: meaningful change requires us to move beyond crisis responses and work with the whole family, including those using abusive behaviour. 

A disproportionate focus on mothers

One of the report’s strongest contributions is its recognition that child protection systems continue to place disproportionate responsibility on mothers while too often failing to engage those causing harm. As the authors note, there remains “a disproportionate focus on mothers to protect children, with a lack of engagement with those causing harm”, despite widespread professional recognition that this approach has significant limitations (page 4). Later findings show that men who use abusive behaviour were “largely absent from plans”, even where professionals agreed that engaging them was essential (page 7), and that services specifically designed to support behaviour change remain limited. This reflects a challenge The For Baby’s Sake Trust has consistently highlighted. Lasting safety for babies and children cannot be achieved by placing unrealistic expectations on the parent experiencing abuse – whether that parent is a mother or a father. Instead, we need services that safely engage both parents where appropriate, address the root causes of abusive behaviour, and support sustainable change to break cycles of domestic abuse and give babies (and children more broadly) the best start in life.  

One size fits all assessments

The report also highlights the importance of understanding domestic abuse in all its complexity. It finds that generic labels such as “DVA” or “coercive control” often result in “one size fits all” assessments and responses that fail to reflect families’ individual circumstances (page7). The report explains that: “The lack of detail about the type and characteristics of the abuse, occurring within the context of child protection concerns, compounded the limited insights offered by the CIN and CPC data” (page 51). Particularly striking is the discussion of how domestic abuse is frequently categorised within child protection under neglect. As one manager reflects in the report: “I’ve seen it certainly sit in the neglect category, but I’ve also seen it in the emotional harm… when I started doing some work on the neglect… you would actually finding the domestic abuse” (page 51). This echoes findings from our own Freedom of Information research, which identified significant variation in how domestic abuse is recorded within children’s social care data, making it harder to understand the true scale of its impact on babies and children. 

Trauma-informed, intersectional approaches

We are also encouraged by the report’s emphasis on the structural and systemic causes of DVA, and the exploration of wider factors that shape families’ experiences. The report identifies a key social gradient to families in contact with social care where there is domestic abuse, and stresses that responses must recognise how poverty, housing, physical and mental health, gender, ethnicity, disability, and other inequalities intersect to influence both risk and opportunity. They also emphasise the role that trauma can play in DVA/child protection contexts: “The language of ‘choice’ was routinely deployed in relation to men involved in abusive behaviours and while that could be helpful especially when framed in terms of poor parenting choices, there appeared to be some reluctance to contextualise such choices by exploring the impacts of trauma due to abusive childhoods or care experiences. There was limited knowledge of the scholarship on contributory causal factors such as substance misuse and mental health issues” (page 54). Their call for “evidence informed understandings” and “seeing the whole person” reflects the relational, trauma-informed approach that underpins The For Baby’s Sake programme, recognising that families’ experiences cannot be understood in isolation from the wider contexts in which they live. 

Engaging men and dads

One of the report’s most important segments is its honest examination of how services engage men, including men who harm. The authors found that professionals recognised this as a significant gap in local provision, with men often “invisible in the file data” and little information available to understand their pathways into and out of domestic abuse and child protection services (page 54). The report also identifies a deeper challenge: practitioners’ anxiety that seeking to understand the factors contributing to abusive behaviour may be seen as excusing or colluding with it, which can make meaningful engagement more difficult (page 54).  

Importantly, the findings move beyond a simple adult victim–perpetrator framing by showing how some young men appear in case files first as children affected by family violence and later as young adults presenting harmful behaviour, creating challenges for services as they transition “from children as victims to young adult perpetrators” in assessments and narratives (page 56). The report also highlights the importance of maintaining hope and curiosity in long-term work with families. It describes how agencies can become fixed in their view of whether a man can ever change, yet one specialist domestic abuse team was able to support a safer, more reflective approach that gave the adult experiencing harm the space to understand risk and make informed decisions over time, while practitioners worked with “safe uncertainty” and “held the risk” (page 61). For The For Baby’s Sake Trust, these findings reinforce the need for trauma-informed, whole-family approaches that engage men safely and responsibly, recognise the impact of earlier experiences of violence, and build relational trust that is essential if lasting change is to be possible. 

Professional responses across the life course

Importantly, the report shines a light on the experiences of babies and very young children. Children under five are consistently overrepresented in child protection responses relating to domestic abuse, underlining the importance of intervening as early as possible. Pregnancy and the first two years of life represent a unique window for change. By working with families during this critical period, there is an opportunity not only to reduce immediate harm but also to break cycles of trauma that can otherwise continue across generations.  

The report also raises important questions about how services respond across the life course, including young adults whose own experiences of family violence may later be reflected in harmful behaviour towards others, and the role of kinship care within families affected by intergenerational abuse. These findings reinforce the need to understand domestic abuse as a complex, long-term public health issue rather than a series of isolated incidents. The report also recognises that trust is fundamental: families often approach services with understandable fear, and practitioners in the report described the time and skill required to rebuild relationships after years of fragmented involvement. Building safety requires consistent, compassionate relationships that create the conditions for change. 

A case for reform

This report provides a compelling case for reform. If we are serious about improving outcomes for babies and children affected by domestic abuse, we must invest in evidence-based, whole-family approaches that engage those using abusive behaviour, support the parent experiencing abuse without placing the burden solely on them, and recognise the wider social factors that shape family life. We hope these findings will help drive the systemic changes needed to embed programmes like For Baby’s Sake in every local area, and give every child the safest possible start in life. 

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03 Jul, 2026Uncategorized

Our Response to the Independent Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services in England: Final Report and Recommendations 

by Daisy O'Brien

The For Baby’s Sake Trust welcomes the publication of the final report and recommendations following the Independent Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services in England. As members of the Charity and Third Sector Expert Reference Group supporting the Maternity and Neonatal Investigation Taskforce, we are encouraged that the report references the voices and experiences of babies, parents, and families affected by domestic abuse and trauma in the evidence base informing this important report. 

This report presents a clear and urgent diagnosis of a system that is, in its current form, “not set up to deliver consistently safe, high-quality and compassionate care” (p.4). Its findings reflect longstanding concerns that fragmentation, workforce pressures, and cultural failings are resulting in avoidable harm. 

Crucially, this harm does not only begin at birth. Babies are impacted during pregnancy, shaped by the environments, relationships, and stressors they are exposed to in utero. A truly safe and effective maternity and neonatal system must therefore place babies -their development, relationships, and lifelong outcomes – at its centre. 

Putting babies at the heart of maternity and neonatal reform

We strongly welcome the report’s systemic focus and its emphasis on listening to women and families, improving culture, and addressing inequity. However, its implementation must go further to ensure that the needs and experiences of babies themselves are fully recognised. 

Babies are not passive recipients of care. They are directly affected by maternal stress, trauma, and relational environments before and after birth. At least 15% of babies are at risk of disorganised attachment (around 85,000 each year), often linked to adversity, including domestic abuse [Source: The Parent-Infant Foundation]. These early experiences shape brain development, emotional regulation, and long-term health. 

The report highlights that women and families are often “not heard… dismissed… [and] ignored” (p.3). For babies, this represents a critical risk: when parental concerns are not listened to, early warning signs – both clinical and relational – may be missed. Improving safety, therefore, requires not only clinical excellence but a relational, baby-centred approach that recognises the interconnected needs of babies and their caregivers.

Domestic abuse: a central determinant of babies’ outcomes

Recognising and responding to domestic abuse as a key driver of poor outcomes for babies, as well as for parents, must be an urgent priority. 

Pregnancy and the early years are a period of heightened vulnerability:  Babies exposed to domestic abuse are at increased risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, disrupted attachment, and long-term developmental harm. Babies under one are also at highest risk of serious harm or death, with domestic abuse identified in 51% of cases [Source: Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, 2026]. 

Despite this, domestic abuse is not consistently identified or addressed within maternity pathways. This reflects a broader “baby blind spot”, where the relational and environmental factors shaping infant outcomes are insufficiently integrated into care. 

Maternity services represent a critical window for early intervention. As one of the few universal points of contact, they provide an opportunity to identify risk, respond safely, and connect families to support. However, where services are not equipped to recognise abuse, disclosures may be missed – particularly in systems where families already feel unheard. 

To improve outcomes for babies, domestic abuse must be embedded within maternity and neonatal safety frameworks as both a clinical and safeguarding priority. 

Recognising the role of fathers and non-birthing parents

We welcome the report’s acknowledgement that fathers and non-birthing parents are often overlooked. We need an urgent shift towards understanding care as relational and whole-family. 

Babies’ outcomes are shaped not only by maternal health, but by the wellbeing, behaviours, and relationships of both parents. Yet fathers and non-birthing parents are frequently overlooked by services: only 28% report being asked about their wellbeing during the perinatal period [Source: The For Baby’s Sake Trust, YouGov 2025]. 

This represents a missed opportunity for prevention and early intervention. Supporting fathers and non-birthing parents is essential to: 

  • Improve parental mental health 
  • Provide opportunities to identify and reduce harmful behaviours, including domestic abuse 
  • Strengthen parent–infant relationships 
  • Improve long-term outcomes for babies 

Domestic abuse is inherently relational, and effective responses must engage the whole family system. This includes safely identifying and supporting victims of any gender, while also working with those who use harmful behaviours to reduce risk and prevent further harm. 

A maternity and neonatal system that truly puts babies first must therefore include, support, and hold all parents in mind.

Whole-family, trauma-informed approaches

The report identifies the need for a more integrated and preventative system. This aligns strongly with the evidence for trauma-informed, whole-family approaches, beginning in pregnancy. 

The For Baby’s Sake programme demonstrates how this can be achieved. By working with both parents from pregnancy until a child is two years old, this model supports: 

  • Early identification of domestic abuse and mental health challenges 
  • Trauma-informed therapeutic intervention 
  • Improved parental relationships and functioning 
  • Healthier, more secure outcomes for babies 

Families are identified across services – including midwifery, health visiting, police, and children’s services – reflecting a “no wrong front door” approach. This directly addresses the fragmentation identified in the report. 

Embedding early intervention strategies such as For Baby’s Sake, and Parent Infant Mental Health Teams (which provide specialist support for parent-infant relationships and infant mental health) more widely would support the report’s ambition to create a system that learns, integrates, and prevents harm before it escalates. 

Workforce, culture, and listening to babies through parents

We welcome the report’s focus on workforce and culture. Creating a compassionate, trauma-informed, anti-racist culture is critical for the physical and psychological safety of babies and parents: it determines whether staff and parents feel safe and heard, whether risk is recognised, whether bias is addressed, whether support is provided early enough, and whether staff are empowered to do the best job possible. 

Professionals must be supported to: 

  • Deliver trauma-informed, culturally competent care 
  • Work in an environment that champions anti-racist practice and addresses any racism towards staff and families 
  • Conduct routine, safe enquiry about domestic abuse 
  • Understand its impact on babies’ development and relationships 
  • Work with both parents as part of a whole-family approach 
  • Recognises and responds to the emotional health needs of parents 
  • Access support for their own emotional health and wellbeing 

The For Baby’s Sake Trust has long recognised the importance of supporting the psychological safety of parents and staff if we are to keep babies safe. Our emotional safety plans were co-created with parents and are available for free for any service that wants to support the wellbeing of parents and staff: Resources – For Baby’s Sake 

Inequalities, racism, and discrimination are driving poorer outcomes

The report highlights systemic inequalities that are highly prevalent across the work of The For Baby’s Sake Trust, particularly:  

  • Racism 
  • Poverty 
  • Mental health needs 
  • Younger parents 
  • Those impacted by domestic abuse 

Prioritising interventions such as For Baby’s Sake, with babies and families most at risk of harm, including those affected by trauma and domestic abuse is critical to closing the gaps in outcomes for babies and parents. For Baby’s Sake is an evidence-based health inequalities intervention. 

Integration, accountability, and the baby’s voice

The report’s identification of fragmentation as a systemic failure is particularly significant for babies. Disconnected systems mean that no single service holds a complete picture of a baby’s environment, risk, or developmental needs. 

To address this, implementation must include: 

  • Integrated pathways across maternity, mental health, domestic abuse, and early years services 
  • Shared accountability for baby-level outcomes, including attachment and development 
  • Data systems that capture exposure to domestic abuse and relational risk factors 
  • Commissioning that prioritises early intervention during the first 1,001 days 

We support the recommendation for a Maternity and Neonatal Commissioner to drive this change. It will be essential that this role maintains a clear focus on babies, ensuring that their needs and outcomes are visible within accountability frameworks. 

Conclusion

We must address systemic failures in maternity and neonatal care without delay. The recognition in the report that “every avoidable death… is one too many” (p.3) must extend to preventing avoidable harm to babies – not only at birth, but across the earliest stages of life. 

The For Baby’s Sake Trust welcomes its findings and remains committed to holding systems and government to account and being a leading advocate for babies.  

To achieve lasting change, reform must: 

  • Place babies and their early relationships at the centre of care 
  • Recognise domestic abuse as a key determinant of outcomes 
  • Include and support fathers and non-birthing parents 
  • Embed trauma-informed, whole-family approaches from pregnancy onwards 
  • Deliver integrated, preventative, and accountable systems 

Without this, the system risks continuing to overlook the earliest and most critical opportunities to prevent harm. With it, there is a significant opportunity to improve outcomes for babies, families, and future generations. 

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22 May, 2026Uncategorized

The Foreign Office’s International Mission to Tackle Violence Against Women and Girls: Our Thoughts 

by Daisy O'Brien

We strongly welcome the UK Government’s leadership in launching an international mission to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG), and its commitment to strengthening global collaboration to address this urgent and complex issue. 

VAWG remains one of the most significant challenges facing societies worldwide. Its scale and complexity demand a coordinated, evidence-led response that goes beyond enforcement to include prevention, early intervention, and long-term cultural change. Tackling VAWG requires a whole-system approach, bringing together justice, health, education, and community partners. 

Crucially, this response must place babies, children and young people at its centre. We know that exposure to domestic abuse in early life has profound and lasting impacts on development, relationships, and future life outcomes. If we are serious about long-term change, we must prioritise the earliest years and intervene before harm becomes embedded across generations. 

Driving Progress Through International Learning

We strongly support the mission’s focus on international knowledge-sharing and collaboration. Real progress in tackling VAWG depends on our ability to learn across cultures; understanding what works in different contexts and adapting these approaches effectively. 

Our recent work in Germany (pictured below) and Australia demonstrates the practical value of international collaboration – learning from one another and sharing best practice, with a view to delivering more effective interventions for parents, children and babies impacted by domestic abuse. It also supports joined-up practice between nations, which is vital for protecting the rights of babies and children as co-victims of domestic abuse, whatever country they are in. This includes UK citizens who are travelling or residing in other countries, and are in need of safety and protection. 


Trauma-Informed and Whole-Family Responses

At the heart of effective practice must be a commitment to trauma-informed approaches. Services must be designed to support recovery without causing further distress, recognising the cumulative and often lifelong impact of abuse. 

We also emphasise the importance of whole-family approaches, recognising that abuse affects not only individuals but entire family systems – especially babies and children, who are too often invisible in responses. Interventions must consider children, partners, and wider family dynamics to ensure both immediate protection and long-term stability and safety. 

Alongside this, we are clear that meaningful progress requires development of trauma-informed approaches to those using abusive behaviours. A significant proportion of individuals who cause harm have themselves experienced domestic abuse, trauma, or adversity in childhood, and it is imperative that we take action to break cycles of domestic abuse within families.  

Addressing this does not excuse harm, but it does require us to respond differently. Trauma-informed, evidence-based interventions that engage individuals, support behaviour change, and address underlying drivers of abuse are essential if we are to reduce risk and create lasting safety for families. 

Breaking the Cycle of Harm

Tackling VAWG effectively means addressing its root causes. Evidence shows that cycles of abuse can be perpetuated across generations without early and targeted intervention. 

Breaking these cycles requires: 

  • Early identification, particularly during pregnancy and early childhood, when there is an increased risk 
  • Preventative work with babies, children and young people 
  • Support for parents and caregivers to build safe, nurturing relationships 
  • Integrated, trauma-informed interventions across agencies, including for those using abusive behaviours 

This shift toward early intervention and prevention is essential to reducing harm sustainably and ensuring that children are not growing up to repeat the patterns they have experienced.

A Shared Commitment

We recognise that policing alone cannot resolve VAWG. Success depends on multi-agency collaboration, shared accountability, and a focus on prevention as well as response. It also depends on a willingness to take a more holistic, trauma-informed  approach, recognising that long-term safety will not be built by relying solely on enforcement, but through healing, behaviour change, and breaking intergenerational cycles of harm. 

We stand ready to support this international mission and continue work alongside partners across the UK and globally to deliver meaningful, baby-centred, and lasting change. 

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22 May, 2026Uncategorized

My Future Me Advisory Team Responds to Government Review into the Deaths of Care Leavers

by Daisy O'Brien

Members of the My Future Me Advisory Team at The For Baby’s Sake Trust have written to Josh MacAlister MP, Minister for Children and Families, to share their lived experiences and recommendations following the government’s review into the deaths of care leavers. Their letter highlights the challenges faced by care-experienced young people and calls for meaningful action to improve support and outcomes.

The government recently announced a review into the deaths of care leavers following data showing 91 notifications of care leaver deaths in 2024-25, the majority involving young people aged between 16 and 21. The review, led by care-experienced author and broadcaster Ashley John-Baptiste and experienced social worker Clare Chamberlain, aims to better understand the circumstances surrounding these deaths and identify how vulnerable young people leaving care can be better supported.

In response, members of the My Future Me Advisory Team at The For Baby’s Sake Trust wrote to Josh MacAlister to share their perspectives. The Advisory Team is made up of care-experienced young people who work with the Trust to co-produce My Future Me, a trauma-informed therapeutic programme currently being piloted to support care-experienced young people in developing healthy relationships for life.

Drawing on their direct lived experience, the group wanted to ensure that the voices of care-experienced young people are heard as part of this important conversation. The letter below reflects the views and experiences of the Advisory Team and has been signed by all members. It discusses sensitive topics, including bereavement, mental health, and the challenges faced by young people leaving care.

View letter here
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21 May, 2026Uncategorized

Expert Opinion: Professor Ben Hine on Parental Alienation

by Daisy O'Brien
At The For Baby’s Sake Trust, we know that tackling complex social challenges requires collaboration and learning from different perspectives. 
Our new Expert Opinion blog series shares conversations with thought leaders and practitioners whose work can deepen understanding of the issues affecting families and communities. Please note, these interviews are not representative of The For Baby’s Sake Trust’s positions, policies, or opinions. 
In this interview, Professor Ben Hine shares his expertise on parental alienation and explores its intersection with domestic abuse. 
About Professor Ben Hine
Ben Hine is Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of West London and the leading UK academic on Parental Alienation and Alienating Behaviours. 

Please can you tell us a bit about your work and what led you to focus on parental alienation?

My name is Professor Ben Hine, and I’m a Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of West London. My work focuses broadly on family breakdown, domestic abuse, and the psychological experiences of parents and children following separation. Over the last several years, I’ve become particularly focused on parental alienation and alienating behaviours, and I’m now one of the leading academic researchers in this area in the UK.

What initially led me into this work was research I was conducting with male victims of domestic abuse. Many fathers were describing situations where children were effectively being weaponised against them during and after separation. That led me to explore the wider literature around parental alienation and coercive family dynamics more broadly.

There was also a personal dimension to it. Some of the themes emerging in the research resonated with aspects of my own experiences growing up during my parents’ divorce. Combining that lived understanding with the academic evidence really gave me a strong motivation to better understand these behaviours, their impact on children and families, and how systems respond to them.

You’ve recently highlighted a growing disconnect between public narrative, policy, and the evidence base around parental alienation. What do you see as the consequences of that gap?

I think the consequences can be quite serious. Whenever policy and practice drift away from the best available evidence, there’s a risk that systems unintentionally worsen outcomes for children and families rather than improving them.

Parental alienation is an area with a difficult and often polarised history, and I think some people still struggle to move beyond that. But over the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve seen a substantial growth in empirical research, systematic reviews, and clinical guidance that has helped us better understand these behaviours and their impact.

The problem is that this evidence is not always translating into frontline practice or policy. In some cases, that can lead to genuine alienating behaviours being overlooked. In others, it can create highly polarised thinking where professionals feel they must choose between recognising domestic abuse or recognising alienating behaviours, when in reality these issues can overlap significantly.

Ultimately, if systems are not evidence-informed, children are the ones who suffer.

Your research suggests parental alienating behaviours are more widespread than often assumed. Why do you think this evidence isn’t always reflected in policy and practice?

Our research found that between 40 and 60 percent of separated parents reported experiencing alienating behaviours following separation. We also found that almost all adults in our sample recalled experiencing at least one alienating behaviour during childhood, with around a quarter reporting exposure to very high levels of these behaviours.

What’s especially important is that greater exposure was directly associated with poorer mental health outcomes, including depression, PTSD symptoms, and suicidal ideation.

I think one reason this evidence is not always reflected in policy is that parental alienation remains a highly emotionally and politically charged topic. There’s understandable concern about misuse of the concept, particularly in family court settings. But I think sometimes that concern has led to reluctance to engage with the evidence at all.

For me, the solution is not to avoid the issue — it’s to equip practitioners with better training, better frameworks, and better evidence so they can assess these situations properly and safely.

In your view, how can systems ensure that recognising parental alienating behaviours does not unintentionally minimise or obscure experiences of domestic abuse?

I think the key concept here is professional curiosity. Professionals need to approach every case with an open and evidence-led mindset rather than relying on assumptions, stereotypes, or ideological positions.

Recognising alienating behaviours should never mean dismissing or minimising genuine experiences of domestic abuse. In fact, alienating behaviours themselves can form part of broader patterns of coercive control and family violence – and that is what evidence from the US and Canada suggests is happening.

What matters is careful contextual assessment. Professionals should be looking at the history of the parent-child relationship, patterns of behaviour over time, safeguarding evidence, the consistency of disclosures, and the wider family dynamics.

In many cases, genuine abuse concerns will be well supported by evidence. In other cases, allegations may be exaggerated, manipulated, or introduced in ways that are harmful to the child. The role of professionals is to carefully distinguish between those situations rather than assuming one explanation fits every case.

What are the most common ways professionals currently misinterpret or overlook alienating behaviours?

One of the biggest issues is failing to examine the wider context surrounding the child’s rejection of a parent.

If professionals look only at the child’s expressed wishes or at allegations being made by one parent, without exploring the broader history, it can become very easy to misinterpret what is happening.

For example, practitioners need to consider questions such as: What was the child’s relationship with this parent like before separation? Is there evidence of abuse or neglect? Has there been a sudden or disproportionate change in the child’s attitude? Are adult themes or narratives appearing in the child’s language?

Sometimes children are rejecting a parent for very legitimate reasons. But in other cases, there may be strong evidence of psychological influence, pressure, or coercive dynamics. Without a holistic assessment, those distinctions can easily be missed.

From your perspective, how should the family court system handle allegations of alienation, including when these are alongside domestic abuse?

I think allegations of alienating behaviours should be treated seriously in the same way we would treat any allegation of psychological or emotional abuse.

Too often, public discussion frames this as “domestic abuse versus parental alienation,” but I think that is fundamentally the wrong way to understand the issue. Alienating behaviours can themselves form part of coercive and abusive family dynamics.

The family courts therefore need robust, evidence-based approaches that carefully examine context and behaviour rather than relying on simplistic assumptions from either side.

The 2024 Family Justice Council guidance is an important step because it emphasises the need for nuanced and balanced assessment. Good practice means examining safeguarding evidence, relationship histories, patterns of behaviour, and the child’s presentation as part of a full fact-finding process.

And importantly, stronger professional understanding should help courts identify both genuine abuse and spurious allegations more effectively.

What do you think needs to change in policy and practice relating to parental alienation to ensure the best outcomes for babies, children, and families?

I think the biggest change needed is recognition — recognition that alienating behaviours are real, measurable, evidence-based, and potentially highly harmful to children and families.

Once we move beyond debates about whether these behaviours exist, we can focus much more productively on developing safe and evidence-informed responses.

That means improving professional training, strengthening assessment frameworks, ensuring greater consistency across family justice and safeguarding systems, and integrating the latest research into policy guidance.

Most importantly, we need approaches that keep children at the centre. The goal should always be to protect children from harm — whether that harm comes from direct abuse, coercive control, manipulation, or the breakdown of important attachment relationships.

 

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For Baby's Sake
13 May, 2026Uncategorized

The For Baby’s Sake Trust Secures £200,000 in Annual Unrestricted Funding from the Harrington Foundation 

by Daisy O'Brien

The For Baby’s Sake Trust has been awarded £200,000 in annual unrestricted funding from the Harrington Foundation, spanning the next three years. This transformational support will enable the charity to strengthen its work supporting families affected by domestic abuse, with a particular focus on babies and infants during the critical early years.  

"We are incredibly grateful to the Harrington Foundation for this significant and forward-thinking investment in our work. Unrestricted funding of this kind is powerful, and it allows us to focus on what matters most: supporting parents to break the cycle of domestic abuse and give their babies the best start in life."

Lauren Seager-Smith, CEO of The For Baby’s Sake Trust

In addition to this generous commitment, the funding will be further bolstered by a contribution from the UBS Optimus Foundation, amplifying the overall impact and ensuring greater reach for the Trust’s evidence-based For Baby’s Sake programme. As a partner organisation of the UBS Optimus Foundation, The For Baby’s Sake Trust benefits from its collaborative philanthropic approach, which focuses on addressing root causes and supporting impactful, evidence‑based programmes. 

These innovative funding models create significant breakthroughs for charities like The For Baby’s Sake Trust, providing unrestricted funding that allows us to respond to emerging needs, invest in innovation and impact, and bring lasting change for families navigating complex and often hidden social challenges.  

“We are delighted to partner with The For Baby’s Sake Trust. As a young foundation with a learning mindset, this is an opportunity for us not only to support the organisation to drive lasting change for families and babies, but also to learn from the team’s expertise, building our understanding of how the right support at the right time can break cycles of abuse and improve outcomes.”

Fiona Humphries, Managing Director of the Harrington Foundation

For Baby’s Sake provides a whole-family, trauma-informed intervention to break cycles of domestic abuse. Therapeutic Practitioners support parents through the perinatal period and beyond to address harmful behaviours and prioritise the safety of their baby. The Harrington Foundation’s support will enable the Trust’s ongoing delivery, evaluation, and development of the programme, as well as its wider mission to influence systems change and improve responses to domestic abuse in the earliest years of life. 

This vital three-year grant will assist The For Baby’s Sake Trust in achieving its ambitious 10-year goal: ensuring that every family in the UK can access support to break cycles of domestic abuse and give their baby the best start in life. To achieve this goal, the Trust aims to expand its reach, promote evidence of what works, and advocate for the provision of whole-family, trauma-informed support in the local and national response to domestic abuse. 

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08 May, 2026Uncategorized

The For Baby’s Sake Trust Awarded Silver Trauma Informed Accreditation

by Daisy O'Brien
We are proud to share that The For Baby’s Sake Trust has been awarded the Silver: Trauma Informed accreditation as part of the Working with Trauma Quality Mark, delivered by One Small Thing.

This recognition marks an important milestone in our ongoing commitment to embedding trauma-informed values across every aspect of our work. As an organisation supporting families affected by domestic abuse, being trauma-informed is not an add-on. It is fundamental to how we think, act and deliver services for babies, children and families impacted by domestic abuse.

The Working with Trauma Quality Mark is a nationally recognised benchmark for organisations that can evidence meaningful, consistent and reflective trauma-informed practice. Achieving Silver status demonstrates the depth of our commitment to creating environments that are safe, compassionate and responsive to the needs of those we work with.

The accreditation process itself has been incredibly valuable. It has provided a structured framework for reflection, learning and growth, enabling us to take a closer look at how trauma-informed principles are embedded across our culture, leadership and day-to-day practice. It has also helped us to identify areas where we can continue to strengthen and evolve.

“We have always strived to deliver trauma informed practice in our work with babies and families, but we know it’s a continuous journey and we can always learn more and do better. We are thrilled to share our Silver Quality Mark with One Small Thing. This was a collaborative effort involving the team, parents, supporters, partners and Trustees, helping us assess what this means across all aspects of culture and practice. We learnt a great deal from the process and would highly recommend it to all services who are committed to trauma informed practice. It’s a daily practice and we keep learning.”

Lauren Seager-Smith, CEO

This sense of collaboration was central to achieving the accreditation. As our Chief Operating Officer highlights, the process reflected a truly collective effort across the organisation and wider community:

“This is down to everyone working together, including our parents. All of your contributions made it possible. A special thank you also to Brenda Evans for leading the project with me.”

Judith Rees, Chief Operating Officer

This accreditation is a meaningful step forward, but it also reinforces the responsibility we hold to continue building services where every individual feels safe, understood and supported.

We are proud to stand alongside a growing community of organisations working to embed trauma-informed practice in real and tangible ways. Together, we can continue to shape systems and services that truly respond to the experiences and needs of those they serve.

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