For Baby’s Sake, the innovative whole-family programme created by the Stefanou Foundation to tackle the cycle of domestic abuse, is described in a report published on 28 May 2020 as the first of its kind to fill an important gap in provision. The in-depth, independent evaluation of For Baby’s Sake, led by King’s College London, was the result of a four-year study and highlights how the programme’s unique approach, working with the whole family, is overcoming key limitations to responding to domestic abuse.

Professor Louise Howard of King’s College London, who led the evaluation team, said, ‘For Baby’s Sake was developed using the evidence base on domestic abuse, pregnancy, trauma, and infant and perinatal mental health.  The For Baby’s Sake team have worked with local government, especially children’s social care, and engaged parents with multiple complex needs and histories of childhood trauma.  Most of the people we interviewed for the evaluation, who remained in For Baby’s Sake over time, were able to identify specific ways that they had changed their behaviour, and related these to aspects of the programme.’

Stelio Stefanou, Chairman of the Stefanou Foundation said, ‘We’re pleased that the evaluation led by King’s College London has confirmed what we already knew from experience; that For Baby’s Sake is ground-breaking and parents are using it to make changes for themselves and their babies. New legislation going through Parliament proves there is a desire to transform how the UK addresses domestic abuse whilst, sadly, the recent lockdown restrictions have created an urgency for achieving it.’

Amanda McIntyre, Director of the Stefanou Foundation said, ‘‘Cambridgeshire and Blackpool have already opened For Baby’s Sake sites, building on the experience of the programme in Hertfordshire and London. The evaluation findings, along with the way parents are continuing to reach out to For Baby’s Sake during COVID-19, have made us even more keen to work with partners to expand further, to reach more babies and families to break the cycle of domestic abuse.’

We are very grateful to the co-designers, Roxane Agnew-Davies, Mark Coulter and Christine Puckering who we commissioned to work closely with us on the design of For Baby’s Sake.

We are also grateful to so many partners and stakeholders for their teamwork and support to reach this point.  Some of them have kindly provided quotes to mark the publication of the evaluation.  

To read their reflections, to download the joint summary of the evaluation and register to read the full report click here