A new programme which aims to support parents from disadvantaged backgrounds to become more attuned to the needs of their offspring has proved very successful

OVER THE years an increasing body of evidence has accumulated to support the theory that a strong attachment between a primary caregiver and their child is crucial in terms of development.

A pilot programme recently run in Dublin has attempted to put such theory into practice by showing young parents from disadvantaged backgrounds how they can be more attuned to the needs of their offspring.

The Infant Matters initiative brought together a number of single parents and couples – many of them from deprived or difficult backgrounds – and sought to support them to build a healthy relationship that will help their children grow into confident and secure adults.

The programme is based on attachment theory, a concept originally formulated in the 1950s by English psychiatrist Dr John Bowlby and later added to by American psychologist Mary Ainsworth.

The theory posited that a child has an inbuilt, innate, biological need to experience close contact with a mother or other significant figure during its earliest years which, if not met, can have a serious impact on the infant’s psychological development and ability to form relationships in later life. In recent years, studies undertaken by researchers such as Allan Schore and Daniel Stern in the areas of neurology, genetics, psychiatry and psychology have provided concrete evidence that backs up the theory.

Participants who took part in the recent Infant Matters programme, which was held in Dún Laoghaire over the summer, attended two-hour sessions once a week at which they were encouraged to learn the signs that can show how their babies are feeling at any given moment.

The initiative’s aim was to raise awareness and encourage sensitive, loving and secure early infant attachment between caregiver and child to enhance parenting capacity and the development of the children involved. To do this, parents were encouraged to examine their relationship with their own primary caregivers and assess how it had affected their own growth. In addition, they were given practical guidance for working with their children in areas such as mirroring, touch and play.

The nine-week programme, which was aimed at parents of children under one, is believed to be the first of its kind held in the Republic. It was jointly developed by the Southside Partnership, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Drugs Taskforce, Barnados and Dún Laoghaire VEC.

“What makes the programme so unique is that unlike most initiatives that aim to improve parenting competency, Infant Matters is a preventative approach that seeks to support young parents rather than a reactive method that aims to correct so-called ‘faulty’ patterns of behaviour,” says Zuleika Daly Jameson, youth support officer with Dún Laoghaire VEC.

According to an unpublished report on Infant Matters, the initiative has proven to have been helpful in encouraging a deeper relationship between participants and their children, with most parents reporting that they felt more confident about knowing when their baby wanted to play, was hungry, tired or wet or required comforting. Through the process, participants were also found to have learnt more about self-care, the importance of non-verbal communication and interpersonal development.

“The idea was very much about accepting that the parents were doing the best they could and that it wasn’t up to us to correct behaviour, but rather to confirm them as adults who were trying in difficult circumstances to bring up their children,” says Angela Stenson, childcare development worker with the Southside Partnership and a practising psychotherapist.

“The key thing is that all parents want to do well by their children and in aiming this programme at those who have only recently become parents you are getting them at a stage when they are most willing to learn. All of those who participated on the course were still excited about having had their child and they really wanted to do what was best for them and to give their child what they never had,” she adds.

Stenson’s colleague, Eamonn Gillen, a drug prevention and education officer with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Drugs Task Force, believes initiatives such as Infant Matters can have long-term benefits, not just for individuals but also for society as a whole.

“A programme such as this can have multiple benefits, among them drug prevention. Go up and down the country to the various groups coping with the problems of drug use in Ireland and the one thing that becomes evident is that the majority of those who begin using drugs have all had attachment difficulties early on in life. So an initiative such as this can have a major impact in helping youths at risk and thereby making it more likely that they will stay away from drugs,” he says.

Despite budget cutbacks, all the organisations involved in Infant Matters are hopeful they will be able to offer the programme next year with a similar target group and there are hopes that at some point it will be possible to extend the course further afield, so that parents from across the country can benefit.

“Ideally we’d like to have the programme running over a longer term and to open it up for parents of children up to the age of three,” says Daly Jameson. “In the US, Britain and Scandinavia, where similar initiatives have been running for a number of years now, it’s become increasingly obvious that early intervention programmes such as Infant Matters can help to encourage greater bonds between parents and children and serve as a valuable support to those new to parenting. It would be great to see such initiatives take off here,” she adds.