WILD Young Parents is the largest UK voluntary sector young parent organisation supporting over 20,000 parents and children over the last 33 years. Based in Cornwall and part funded by Cornwall Council, WILD aims to give young parent families a fair start and to prevent repeated patterns of intergenerational trauma and adversity.
Informed by evidence, learning from families and developing a theory of change, WILD has built a model that bridges the practice gap between what babies need from their parents and how young parents can overcome the cumulative barriers to provide this.
WILD delivers over 700 group sessions for young parents and their babies across Cornwall, reaching 600 families and working more intensively with 350 families, including longer term help for families experiencing care-proceedings and individual support for young fathers. As well as providing trauma informed support, creativity is a central component of WILD’s approach to build confidence and resilience. Early years music and language projects nurture child development while young parents are involved in the WILD Garden, a WILD choir, and art projects – resulting in a young father’s national exhibition – and a theatre and music project called Rant Club. Developed with Trifle Gathering Productions, a trauma informed theatre social impact theatre group, the project enables a safe connection with anger and frustration through imagination, bravery and storytelling.
WILD assesses the individual needs of each parent and child, and tailors the type and intensity of support accordingly, using a portfolio of evidence-based methods (Solihull, Triple P, Newborn Behavioural Observations, Babies in our Minds, Signs of Safety, Graded Care Profile 2, Power Threat Meaning Framework, ICON) The impact is regularly monitored through surveys with young parents and significant improvements shown on parental and infant mental health, parenting confidence and enjoyment, and health issues. Families facing more complex challenges who have safeguarding plans or who are at risk of their child being taken into care have shown greater improvement when WILD provides more intensive support. The most popular reasons parents gave for being with WILD were the friendship, sense of belonging and shared experience with other parents, and the support they received in feeling welcomed, safe, comforted, included and being able to talk about difficult experiences without judgement.
WILD works in close partnership with local services. The CEO is the VCS representative on Cornwall’s Safeguarding Children Partnership, chairs the VCSE children’s alliance and the team is represented in local food, housing and mental wellbeing alliances, Multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC), multi-agency suicide prevention and perinatal mental health groups, and the multi-agency Start Well group. Training is also provided for health visitors, foundation for life team, early years leads and childminders.
WILD has now formed a national Young Parent Network, with over 80 members, to connect and share ideas, collaborate and learn and be part of a collective national voice for young parent families.
Lessons learned
- Work with the whole family and all their intersecting needs, with the baby at the centre.
- Give your team the tools to listen to and advocate for the voice and lived experience of babies.
- Be trauma-specific; 'what's happened to you?', not 'what's wrong with you? Centre on emotions and relationships
- Focus on the infant-parent bond as the key to intergenerational change.
- Collaborate with parents and children as your key partners, and help them share their stories, skills and ideas.
- Be in it for the long haul.
- Nurture practitioners to develop an evidence-based toolkit they can dip into in any situation.
- Don't forget to have fun!