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The Baby Café Charitable Trust began its life
as a charity in July 2005.
A small team of people coordinate a network of branded drop-in centres which support
breastfeeding mothers, because we believe that every breastfeeding mum deserves
free, top quality help and support. Our support services are currently provided by
two national coordinators, administrator and
website coordinator whose services are partly contracted by the trustees but who
also devote generous amounts of time to the trust on a voluntary basis.
Read more about the charity and our staff below.
Click here to read FAQs about running a Baby Café
drop-in.
| In 2000, lactation consultants Catherine Pardoe and Julie Williams sought
Department of Health Infant Feeding Initiative funding for one year, to
set up and run a drop-in centre for breastfeeding mothers within the local
NHS Trust. In this context,
Julie and Catherine were able to pilot and evaluate The Baby Café concept and
model of care. |
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When health professionals and mothers in other areas of the country began to
make enquiries about using the model in their own area Julie and Catherine
developed the Baby Café
Professionals' Information Pack to enable them to do so. The
charge made for the packs covered the costs of production and postage. This pack
provided a background to The Baby Café initiative and described the concepts and model of
care. It also gave a step-by-step guide to applying for, setting up, running
and evaluating a Baby Café drop-in centre.
Initially 10 copies were made but it proved so popular that more than
350 were eventually sold.
The Baby Café
Professionals' Information Pack was discontinued in 2006, being replaced
by the Baby Café Application Pack which includes
an information leaflet, DVD and licence application form. Once an
application has been approved, drop-in staff are provided with The
Baby Café Handbook - all you need to know about setting up a Baby Café
drop-in which provides detailed information about all aspects of
running a successful drop-in. |
Maintaining standards
From
the outset the aim was to create a mainstream service where all mums could access high
quality breastfeeding support from a mainstream provider in a relaxed, stylish
setting.
Catherine and Julie felt it was crucial to protect and maintain the concepts
and standards associated with The Baby Café name so that mothers visiting any
Baby Café drop-in centre, and funding bodies investing in a Baby Café centre, could be confident of
a high standard of care. Therefore they decided to register The Baby Café name as a
Business Name and purchase domain names investing their own funds. In this way
The Baby Café as a national initiative came into existence.
Those who wanted to set up a drop-in using The Baby Café name, logo and
associated model of care and standards paid an annual registration fee which
entitled them to use the name and logo, to feature on the Baby Café website and
have access to a national support structure. They also agreed to maintain the
standards and model detailed in the pack and provide annual
statistical information about their Baby Café drop-in.
The support to registered Baby Café drop-ins was initially provided by Catherine and Julie, co-founders/national
coordinators, and Sue, website coordinator. Time spent administering and
coordinating the growing number of Baby Cafés, providing the support services and developing The Baby Café as an international
venture was in addition to
their day jobs and the associated expenses of providing this support was covered by the annual fee
paid by each Baby Café.
Becoming a charitable trust
Due
to the overwhelming interest in The Baby Café model, and the rapid growth in
the number of Baby Cafés registering as part of the initiative, it became
increasingly difficult to keep in touch with all the registered Baby Café
drop-ins so consideration had to be given to the most effective way to take The
Baby Café forward. The aim was to enable continuing support,
communication and monitoring of standards to ensure a
growing number of mothers would have access to the high quality breastfeeding
help provided by Baby Café drop-ins.
The
Baby Café initiative was granted charitable trust status in 2005.
The
objects of the charity are:
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promote the physical and psychological health of mothers and children
through education in the techniques of, and the provision of training
regarding breastfeeding.
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| To
advance the education of the public and especially those persons
concerned with the care of the children on the health benefits both
immediate and long term of breastfeeding.
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| The
advancement of education among voluntary staff working in this area by the
provision of relevant training.
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Read our Annual Reports
Statistics
about our work
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Helen Bilton
Chair of Trustees
MA MSc
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Susan McGuiness
Trustee
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Rebecca Anderson
Trustee
BSc Dip H Ed
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Philip McGuinness,
Trustee
FCCA
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Helen's involvement started with she attended a Baby Café drop-in as a new mum. She has a background working in the charity sector
and is currently a self-employed information professional/indexer. Helen
is married and has 2 young children. |
Susan is a Breastfeeding Counsellor trained by the UK National Childbirth
Trust. She is very active
within her own area branch and teaches breastfeeding classes for other
areas as well. Susan helps
out as a volunteer on the postnatal ward of her local hospital.
She is married and has 3 sons. |
Rebecca's background is in finance. She has since qualified as an
antenatal teacher with the UK National Childbirth Trust, working in
Brighton and Mid-Sussex. Rebecca is married with three children. |
Philip's role as vice
president and chief financial officer for the European division of a
global financial services institution will ensure that he brings a wealth
of business and finance experience to the Charity. Philip is married and
has three young sons. |
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Catherine Pardoe
Professional Development Coordinator
BSc (Nursing) RN IBCLC
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Julie Williams
Projects Coordinator
RN RHV MSc IBCLC |
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Catherine worked as a staff nurse post qualification. She has been in
self-employed, private practice as a lactation consultant since 1999 and
co-founded the Baby Café initiative. Her voluntary work as an accredited
La Leche League Leader for 11 years included time as a LLLGB Trustee, with
responsibility for the public relations and professional liaison
departments. Catherine is currently involved in delivering peer mentoring
programmes, with a focus on young mothers.
Catherine and her husband have four children, ranging from
pre-schoolers to teenagers. |
Julie's work as a health visitor in Croydon included involvement in a
number of key initiatives in the areas of play, women's health, teenage
mothers and breastfeeding.
Her thesis for a Masters Degree in Health Sciences looked at gaps in
health visitor knowledge regarding breastfeeding.
She has completed the International Breastfeeding Practice and
Policy course at the Institute of Child Health, London.
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Julie and Catherine now work independently as self-employed lactation
consultants.
They have worked on a number of collaborative projects funded by NHS Trusts, PCTs, Connexions and the YMCA.
Their collaborative work in developing, administering and supporting The Baby
Café initiative, at a national and international level, received no such
external funding for the first few years. Much of their Baby Café work is done
in donated time.
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Samantha Payne
Administrator
BA (Hons) DiPM |
Sue Upstone
Website Coordinator
B Ed |
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| Sam is our part-time administrator. She works freelance as a business
support manager assisting small and medium sized enterprises with administration
and marketing activities. |
Sue is an accredited La Leche League Leader in West Sussex. She worked as a volunteer at Haywards Heath Baby Café
for several years. In 2003 Sue set
up The Baby Café website and has maintained it since then. She has
two children and works part-time as an information technology teacher in local primary
schools.
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A mothers' charter has been developed to help
make clear to mums what they can expect from a Baby Café
centre.
From October 2006 a new application procedure will be in place. Click
here to read more about this process and about the associated costs of
setting up a Baby Café drop-in centre.
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The Baby Café brand has an international profile as an innovative, imaginative and
accessible way of delivering health care in the 21st century.
| One element of The Baby Café model of care is the name, its visual
representation and the associated concepts and standards that underpin this. The
Baby Café is considered a brand; synonymous with breastfeeding, excellence,
quality, style and an informal, relaxed atmosphere. |
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When you decide to set up a drop-in using The Baby Café name, logo and
associated model of care and standards you have access to the national support
structure of a charitable trust.
Your licence fee entitles you to:
| Artwork
and publicity templates, including the attractive and modern logo, which
is an integral part of how people recognise a Baby Café. |
The
Baby Café Handbook which provides detailed information on how to set
up, run and sustain your Baby Café breastfeeding drop-in. |
Your own pages on the Baby Café
website to publicise your drop-in locally. |
Individual support
from the Charitable Trust team by telephone, e-mail or
visit. |
| Regular
update newsletters including breastfeeding information, latest
developments, exchanging ideas and describing
innovative projects. |
Resources developed by other Baby Cafés, e.g. translated
materials, invitations, publicity materials via our password protected
web page. |
Contact lists to facilitate networking between Baby Café staff.
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Discount rates at Baby Café Charitable Trust workshops and conferences, to facilitate
continuing professional education. |
| Permission to apply for external funding
as part of The Baby Café
Charitable Trust. |
Materials
to support you in collecting statistics and evaluating the
effectiveness of you Baby Café drop-in. |
Annual
statistics collated from all Baby Café drop-ins which you can quote
when applying for funding. |
Targeted
support for facilitators based on information collected annually through
the statistics and evaluation process. |
Other benefits:
| The
detailed guidelines in the Baby Café Handbook provide you with a clear and consistent model of care
to follow that has been proven to work successfully in a variety of
settings. |
| Users know what to expect when they visit
your Baby Café drop-in centre and they can be confident of a high standard
of care.
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| The Charitable Trust
make it easy for you to audit and monitor your work by providing suitable
administrative tools and support.
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| This ongoing evaluation and audit enables your funding bodies to be confident
that they
are investing in a form of health care delivery that is proving effective
whatever the community profile. |
| Through
the Charitable Trust
your Baby Café centre benefits from the publicity, recognition and
interest generated by others within The Baby Café organisation, locally, nationally and
internationally.
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| You and your funding bodies can be confident that standards in all
registered Baby Café centres are being monitored by the Charitable Trust and that procedures are in place to follow-up
drop-ins using the Baby Café name without permission or those needing more support and guidance in meeting
the licensing requirements. |
| As
a charitable trust The Baby Café
is eligible to apply for national and local funding to improve, update and
maintain the standards within existing Baby Café centres, as well as to provide much more support for areas wishing to establish a
Baby
Café drop-in or fund local projects, e.g. peer supporter programmes. |
Our website is designed to:
| Convey Baby Café concepts and branding and give a feel for
what it's like to visit. |
| Be simple to navigate for a mum with baby in one arm or a busy health
professional. |
| Give mums information about their nearest Baby Café drop-in centre and how to find
it. |
| Provide information about other breastfeeding support available -
telephone helpline details; other websites; books and leaflets. |
| Enable health professionals, volunteers, funding
organisations and the media to find out more about The Baby Café
Charitable Trust and
provide a tool for communication, networking and support. |
| Provide a library of resources for use by facilitators of
licenced Baby
Café drop-ins. |
The website benefits your Baby Café centre by:
| Publicising your Baby Café drop-in locally, communicating with local mums and
conveying what you have to offer them. Contact details, location, special
events or projects, links to news features in local papers etc. can all be
featured on your page. |
| Giving local mums alternative sources of support and information if they
need help when your Baby Café centre is not open. |
| Providing comprehensive information for funding authorities about The Baby
Café concept and the cost-effective, health benefits of investing in this
form of health care delivery. When applying for grants or communicating with
the press you can refer them to the website for background information. |
| Enabling staff from Baby Café centres across the country to be in contact with
each other and to share good practice, resources etc through our online
library of resources. |
The website is managed and updated by the website coordinator so you can benefit from the service without having to allocate additional time or
skill resource.
Licence
Application and Renewal Costs
Statistics
about our work
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What matters is that breastfeeding mothers and babies receive skilled help
and support and have opportunities to meet with other breastfeeding mothers.
Adapting the concept and using some of the ideas is always an
option and you are welcome to do this provided you avoid using the Baby Café
name and logo. However you will not have access to the detailed Baby Café
Handbook, support services and benefits listed above.
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Increasingly, mothers are attracted to a
Baby Café centre, with its established care model and high standards; likewise, funding bodies may prefer
to invest in a community development model that has proven effective whatever
the community profile, where ongoing support services are available through the
Charitable Trust and in the
knowledge that high standards of care are being maintained.
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Liz Ginty at the Baby Café in Eltham says,
‘We were running a
breastfeeding drop-in for a year without much joy until we re-branded as The
Baby Café centre and we haven’t looked back since.’
By adopting the Baby Café model this drop-in was able to:
| Attract more funding and work time commitment to run and promote the
group. |
| Employ a breastfeeding peer supporter each week (funded by local Trust). |
| Involve other local health professionals as part of a steering group. |
| Establish a six week training course, for six local mums who were all keen
on supporting other mums. |
| Increase attendance by mothers, which means more mums and babies have
received help and support with breastfeeding. |
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FAQs about running a Baby Café drop-in
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