Early help and intervention with Birth Companions

Welcome to Association of Child Protection Professionals' Podcast, a podcast where we, alongside guest hosts, share with you the latest in child and family safeguarding. In today's episode Wendy Thorogood, Chair of the Association of Child Protection Professionals talks to Kirsty Kitchen from Birth Companions about their work supporting women in pregnancy and early motherhood and what child protection professionals can learn from their experience.Kirsty Kitchen is Head of Policy and Communications at Birth Companions – a charity specialising in the needs and experiences of women facing disadvantage and inequality in pregnancy and early motherhood. Birth Companions’ frontline services and influencing work seeks to improve the care and outcomes of women affected by the criminal justice, social services and immigration systems during the 1001 critical days from conception to a child’s second birthday.Wendy Thorogood is a retired Designated Nurse Consultant for children with NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) based in Dorchester. She trained at St Guy's hospital in London, specialising in child and adult nursing intensive care and cardiac and renal transplants.Wendy delivered the national leadership programme for safeguarding for the Department of Health and worked directly with the NHS Confederation in relation to current changes ;providing assurance that current and future providers of services are compliant in relation to safeguarding national and local standards;working with Lead Commissioners and the performance team to develop agreed key performance indicators and safety metrics for providers;identifying and taking appropriate action on key risks and issues across commissioned services that may affect safeguarding of children, young people.Wendy has also spent time working in South Africa in a maternity unit, within a Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) in Kent, and has worked with drug users to improve maternal care - a project that still runs today....We started this podcast at the beginning of lockdown to support professionals continuing to work with vulnerable children, and families, under unprecedented circumstances. With the goal of alleviating the pressure child protection professionals are under, we’ve brought together leading experts within research and practice to impart their knowledge of the latest issues in child protection and safeguarding.All in an effort to ensure that whether you’re out on the frontline, delivering your services at home, or even on furlough, you are able to stay informed.Eighteen months and thousands of downloads later, we want to hear from YOU about what you would like to hear in upcoming episodes.Whether it’s a particular topic you want discussed, or a particular person you want invited on the show. We want to ensure that the podcast reflects what you need.So feel free to email us at [email protected] with any suggestions. And if you’ve been enjoying listening to this podcast - please rate, review and subscribe as it helps other child protection professionals find us....Find us at:childprotectionprofessionals.org.ukTwitter: @AoCPPTweetFacebook: The Association of Child Protection ProfessionalsEmail: [email protected] out more about Wendy at: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/wendy-thorogoodFind out more about Birth Companions at: https://www.birthcompanions.org.uk/...Music by Alexander King Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.