Time Out for Parents

A suite of parenting programmes created by Care for the Family.  We offer:

• TOFP Early Years
• TOFP Primary Years
• TOFP Teens
• TOFP Teens with additional needs
• TOFP Dads.

More information can be found on our parenting pages here.

In partnership with Wiltshire Parent Carers Council we also deliver Children with Additional Needs parenting.  More information can be found here.

Five to Thrive

Central to the Five to Thrive approach is the set of five key activities: Respond, Engage, Relax, Play and Talk.  These are the ‘building blocks for a healthy brain’, and are drawn from research into the key processes of attachment and attunement that forge bonds between young children and their carers.  Crucially, they are designed to support positive feedback processes, enabling practitioners to observe and reinforce positive interaction between parents and their children.

This is delivered to parents through six sessions, with each of the five blocks receiving a focus to allow parents to understand the principles, see them in action through our early years workers and practice themselves through fun activities.

Our aims:

• To increase parental confidence, with knowledge and understanding of how RESPOND is essential for brain development.
• To support parents to understand that loving connections (ENGAGE) build strong connections in our brain.
• To stimulate awareness of why RELAX is important in order for the nervous system to re balance and co-regulate.
• To increase parents confidence and understanding of how PLAY and ‘playfulness’ (one of voice, body language, facial expression, repetition) all creates brain patterns for life.
• For parents to realise the importance of TALKing and listening to embed paths of neural networks for language. This is the key to thought.

Baby Steps

Baby Steps helps mums-to-be and their partners prepare for being a parent.  While most antenatal programmes cover mainly the medical aspects of birth, Baby Steps goes much further and will parents-to-be get ready for their new life with baby.

Sessions include films, group discussions and creative activities. They’re interactive and designed to build confidence and communication skills. There’s a strong focus on building relationships between parents and their babies.

Baby Steps covers six themes:

• the development of the unborn baby
• changes for the parents-to-be
• health and wellbeing of parents
• giving birth and meeting baby
• caring for baby
• who is there for us – people and services.

Following completion of the Baby Steps programme, parents can then go on to join our baby massage groups.

Baby Massage

For parents and their non-moving babies to encourage bonding and communication through soothing touch.

Bookstart

This National Literacy based programme is designed to support families support their child’s literacy development.  Reading together is great for bonding and building strong and loving relationships, while the routine of sharing stories and rhymes helps children to communicate and will support their wellbeing.  Children who are read to from an early age do better when they get to school – learning rhymes and stories together give them a flying start!

Research has shown that in early life periods, interactions and experience can determine whether a child’s brain architecture provides a strong foundation for their future health, wellbeing and development.  Research goes on to show that there is a significant gap between children with good and poor language skills when they begin school and that this gap remains consistent throughout their schooling. It is therefore absolutely vital that language skills prior to school are promoted to address this gap.

Our aims:

• To promote communication and positive interaction between parent and child to support development of early language
• To highlight the importance of sharing stories, books and rhymes and the fun this brings
• To promote a daily story, book and rhyme sharing habit/routine
• To promote the importance of the home environment in shaping a child’s future
• To demonstrate and value the parent/carer role building on what they already do to support communication skills.

Books with Babies

Parents and carers learn the importance of reading and sharing books with their child and how reading and sharing stories can enhance their child’s speech and language development.  Reading and sharing stories can create and build bonds between children and their carers and can be used to support a child’s routine in the home.

Delivered through four sessions, with each session focussing on sharing stories, rhymes, the use of props and puppets to build on imagination.

The programme helps parents and carers to:

• Understand how the use of books, singing and stories can support a child’s imagination, routines, and speech
• Be confident when using props and puppets to share stories and rhymes with their child
• Support their child’s literacy and language skills, enabling them to expand on their child’s vocabulary
• Build on their child’s confidence, self esteem and positive health and well-being.

Five to Thrive

​Central to the Five to Thrive approach is the set of five key activities: Respond, Engage, Relax, Play and Talk.  These are the ‘building blocks for a healthy brain’, and are drawn from research into the key processes of attachment and attunement that forge bonds between young children and their carers.  Crucially, they are designed to support positive feedback processes, enabling practitioners to observe and reinforce positive interaction between parents and their children.

This is delivered to parents through six sessions, with each of the five blocks receiving a focus to allow parents to understand the principles, see them in action through our early years workers and practice themselves through fun activities.

Our aims:

• To increase parental confidence, with knowledge and understanding of how RESPOND is essential for brain development.
• To support parents to understand that loving connections (ENGAGE) build strong connections in our brain.
• To stimulate awareness of why RELAX is important in order for the nervous system to re balance and co-regulate.
• To increase parents confidence and understanding of how PLAY and ‘playfulness’ (one of voice, body language, facial expression, repetition) all creates brain patterns for life.
• For parents to realise the importance of TALKing and listening to embed paths of neural networks for language. This is the key to thought.

One to one support is provided in the home by our team of Family Hub Practitioners (FHPs). Our major referral source is health visiting and primary schools with other sources include midwifery, Wiltshire Council, pre-schools and families themselves.

Although parenting is often the primary reason for the referral, there are normally other factors present such as financial issues, relationship difficulties between parents and poor mental health.

The type of work undertaken will depend upon the goals identified by the family, but may include parenting support, role modelling of Five to Thrive principles, help with family and relationship breakdown, and assistance with budgeting and finances. 

Our aims:

• To build honest and trusting relationships, characterised by persistence and respectful challenge.
• To use this relationship and attachment theory to strengthen interfamily relationships.
• To help families create a personal action plan, progressed over the duration of the support.
• To help families access targeted children’s centre programmes, and support available from partner agencies, sometimes speaking on behalf of the family and sometimes challenging the family alongside other agencies.
• To provide practical support in overcoming day to day barriers and difficulties.

Health visitor clinics

These universal groups are run within the community on a regular basis.  

If you have any concerns and you would like to speak to a health visitor, you can contact them via:

Single point of access number: 0300 247 0090

Wiltshire Children’s Services

Breastfeeding support

National Breastfeeding helpline: 0300 100 0212 or National Breastfeeding Helpline

Breastfeeding Network

Links to other Breastfeeding Support in Wiltshire

Breast pump hire

There are many reasons families might be considering the use of a breast pump, but we know that these can be expensive and families may not be sure if it is right for them. Please contact your midwife team for support with this.

Healthy Start vitamins

All pregnant women, women with a baby under one year old and children aged up to their fourth birthday are entitled to claim their free Healthy Start vitamins.

Healthy Start vitamins contain vitamins A, C and D for children aged from birth to four years, and folic acid and vitamins C and D for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Two types of Healthy Start products are available:

• Healthy Start children’s vitamin drops (containing vitamins A, C and D)
• Healthy Start vitamins for women (containing folic acid and vitamins C and D).

Find out more at NHS Healthy Start vitamins, or contact your nearest children’s centre.

Arguments between parents (whether separated or together) is a normal part of family life and relationships. But when these become more frequent, intense and poorly resolved, this can impact on children’s long-term outcomes and mental health. Our fully trained Family Support Workers offer a range of tailored interventions, to support parents to develop practical ways to work through disagreements and understand how children can be affected by conflict.

Me, You and Baby Too

Having a baby is one of the biggest changes parents can go through. Both parents may be tired and stressed and they may argue more.

This course is designed to help them navigate these changes so they can sort out any disagreements and keep moving forward together. This will be better for both parents and better for their baby(ies).

Work one to one with our Family Support Workers to understand:

• What your baby knows before they are even born.
• Why stress should be a shared burden.
• How you and your partner can best support each other.
• How to talk to bring up difficult topics.
• How arguments start, and how to stop them.

Getting it Right for Children

This course is designed to help separating(ed) parents communicate better for the sake of their children. The course has a series of video clips showing different scenarios where children are put in the middle of their parents’ disagreements.

The course demonstrates what it is like for the parents and the children involved in disagreements and supports parents to learn new skills that can help them resolve disagreements in a better way.

By the end of the course, parents should be able to:

• Stay calm and listen as well as talk.
• See things from a different point of view.
• Stop a discussion from turning into an argument.
• Negotiate to make compromises.
• Work out solutions.

Arguing Better

This course is all about finding helpful ways to communicate during stressful times.

Parents will learn why arguments happen, how they can affect them, and the best ways they can support each other.

The course is split into three sections:

• Understanding stress.
• Coping with stress together.
• Arguing better.

It may be particularly useful for anyone who is dealing with a lot of stress or arguing more than they’d like to.

For families struggling to buy clothes and other items for the baby (0 to 12 months) we have a new project starting very soon.  If you would like more information, please contact us via the ‘Get in Touch’ button on this page.