Neale Richmond
Question:853. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the national roll-out of the baby box scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15110/20]
View answerTuesday, 14 July 2020
Questions (853, 868)
Neale Richmond
Question:868. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if a report on the pilot baby box scheme will be commissioned; if so, when it will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15109/20]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 853 and 868 together.
Baby Boxes for newborns are to be piloted under First 5 A Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families 2019-2028. Piloting Baby Boxes is just one initiative which is part of a wide ranging strategy addressing various aspects of the lives of children from birth to age five including supports for parents to balance working and caring, developments in early learning and care and health initiatives.
The gift of the Baby Box is intended as a welcome from the State for a new arrival to a family and an acknowledgement of this very significant moment for parents. The universal distribution of Baby Boxes also reflects an important equality principle that each child is given something of equal value at the start of their life. The concept of Baby Boxes originates in Finland (and has been implemented in a number of other countries) and consists of a package of items to assist with the transition to parenthood. The pilot will undertake research and consultation to determine items for inclusion in the pack and these may include safety items, baby clothes and toys to support early development and books to foster a love of reading from infancy.
The distribution of a Baby Box also offers the opportunity to communicate important child development and safety messages to parents as well as an early opportunity to link families in with support services if required. This is consistent with the principle of progressive universalism whereby all families receive something universally, but where there are additional needs, extra supports are provided.
Key objectives with the Baby Box and linked communications will include support for parent-infant bonding, information on baby development and early learning, advice and support for breastfeeding and promotion of infant health and safety.
Baby Boxes will be piloted in parallel with Book Bags to support early literacy and the home learning environment. Book Bags are packs including books for children and other resources to support reading and learning. It is intended that Book Bags would be made available free of charge to families with young children at key points in a child’s life such as infancy, the transition to pre-school and the transition to primary school.
A research partner will be appointed, following competitive tender, to support work on the baby box pilot. The research partner will oversee focus groups and/or consultations for the selection of items for the box. The implementation of the pilot including delivery channels and selection and registration of participants will also be evaluated by the research partner. There will be a significant emphasis in the pilot on consultation and engagement with parents and of evaluation of the impact of such measures, including cost-benefit analysis, with a view to determining whether the baby box pilot initiative is suitable for wider roll-out. The results of the evaluation will be published as a report some months after the final distribution of the boxes. This will allow for a period of time for participants to fully utilise items in the boxes before reporting on their experience.
The scoping phase of the pilot began in late 2019/early 2020 and a working group will be convened in Q4 2020 to plan for the pilot implementation.
There are some baby box schemes already in operation via maternity hospitals and otherwise in different parts of the country but my Department is not involved in funding or co-ordinating these.