Family nurses helping to deliver

Family nurses can now register expectant mothers to receive their Baby Box, Minister for Childcare and Early Years, Maree Todd has confirmed.

She made the announcement as the number of boxes delivered passed the 30,000 mark.

The Family Nurse Partnership involves highly trained nurses providing young first time mums with frequent one-to-one home visits from early pregnancy until their child’s second birthday. It is part of the same range of measures as the Baby Box, introduced to ensure that every baby born in Scotland is given the best possible start in life.

Ms Todd said: “The Baby Box is already making a big difference to thousands of families. It will help tackle deprivation, improve health and support families and I am extremely proud that it has already become an important and exciting part of the journey to parenthood in Scotland.

“Now that Family Nurses are able to complete registrations it makes things even easier for first-time teenage mothers to feel prepared and supported.

“We have introduced a number of different measures to ensure every child in Scotland gets the best possible start in life, whatever their background. I look forward to seeing even more families benefit from the substantial early years support on offer and even more children achieving better outcomes as a result.”

Background

The First Minister previously announced the Family Nurse Partnership will be available nationwide by the end of this year.

Through the FNP highly trained nurses give a wide range of support to ensure the child gets the best possible start in life, with mothers encouraged to make positive decisions around their own behaviours and achieve their life goals.

At close of play Tuesday 6 March the number of Baby Boxes delivered will be 30,068.