Keeping it real
Welcome to our 2024 Close-Knit update, like last year we want to remind people that what you are reading is a showreel of our highlights, like every organisation we have had some high highs, low lows and boring days too! I recently heard it said ‘The difference between making change happen or not is whether you give up or not’ and so we press on!
Headlines
2024 has been about sharing our messages with parents, practitioners, and everyone in between & strengthening our organisation through training and development.
This year we have shared our messages through resources and training with over 400 parents, over 150 practitioners and almost 60 pupil referral unit students. We have partnered with over 35 organisations to share our resources and had over 2.5k online views of our poem video!
What’s new?
We have become a charity – Close-Knit Families! (We have converted from a CIC to a CIO) This is a big step for us & will strengthen our organisation so that we can continue to help babies by helping those around them know how important early relationships & experiences are for babies!
We are in the process of transferring everything over with the bank etc, we will make it official with an announcement & more information in the New Year.
This year Beth completed the Small Charity Leaders Club training programme with the fabulous Vic Hancock-Fell which has supported our transition to becoming a charity well.
Our Bread & Butter: Baby Connections Video
One of our big achievements has been licensing our ‘Baby Connections’ video animation to the South Tees Best Start Partnership. The video resource was co-produced with parents and practitioners in Teesside and explains to parents the importance of bonding, attachment and baby brain development in an easy-to-understand way. Last year the video was licensed to South Tyneside local authority and is being shared through their Family Hubs.
In South Tees our video is being shared through services such as maternity, health visiting, family hubs and children’s services with families in Middlesbrough & Redcar & Cleveland, potentially impacting up to 3,000 babies born every year. Find out more here
The Best Start Partnership also funded the translation of the video into Arabic, Romanian and Czech and it was a great experience to partner with Newport Primary School & others who helped with the voice-overs (check out the poem section of our animation in the different languages here.)
We are delighted to announce that Home-Start Teesside has also been licensed to share our ‘Baby Connections’ animation with families they are supporting.
"I think every parent should see this video and therefore I think all midwives and health visitors should have it to be able to share with parents, it's a great resource!" 🤗 Michelle Hardy Scheme Manager Home-Start Teesside
We recently presented our resources and work at the NENC Child Health & Wellbeing Network huddle. It was fantastic to share the importance of the infant voice with Dr Bronia Arnott and Laura Turner from Theatre Hullaballoo, you can check that out here.
Want to know more about licensing our ‘Baby Connections’ Video? Find out more here
Baby Connections Project: Our work in the community
Our project ran between September 2023 and September 2024 and was funded by The Goshen Trust, The Teesside Charity, The Rothley Trust, & Warburtons.
We shared our video resources and delivered sessions on baby brain development, parent and baby bonding and parent well-being with parents &carers in Teesside at no cost to them.
We reached over 400 parents & carers directly through playgroups, workshops and events & we reached many more through our digital & physical resources including our parent packs which we shared through partners such as Grow Baby Bank in Thornaby, Stockton Baby Bank and St Hilda’s Church Grangetown Baby Bank.
During the project, we partnered with over 20 charities & groups such as Family Action & South Tees Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership to share our resources and training with the families they serve.
100% of parents said our workshops helped them understand what they can do to help their baby’s brain develop.
Parents say we have helped them to 'understand changes in my brain and babies’, ‘Be more aware of what my baby needs’, ‘Think of ways I can mimic and communicate with my baby’ and ‘Play with my baby a lot more. Take time for myself.’
Check out our website for FREE resources for parents and parents-to-be.
Partnerships & Training: Sharing our messages further
As ever relationships & partnerships are key to the work of Close-Knit. This year we have trained and reached over 150 practitioners who work with families, supporting them to continue the good work they are already doing through resources and learning.
We have also delivered workshops for parents in partnership with organisations such as the North Tees Maternity Voices and Neonatal partnership at the 'Grow Baby' Baby Bank in Thornaby.
Through feedback forms 100% of practitioners said they would recommend our sessions to others.
Check out our resources for practitioners to share with families.
We have delivered interactive sessions in two pupil referral units in South Tees; Archway Academy and River Tees Academy, explaining how early relationships and experiences impact baby development and life outcomes, with practical activities such as using Duplo to support learning. The sessions help pupils understand how to relate to babies now and in the future.
Pupils say they will now ‘be more interactive’ ‘talk more’ ‘smile more’ and ‘swear less’ around babies.
Would you like to access Close-Knit training for your workforce, volunteers, school or families you work with? Find out more here.
Other Exciting Stuff
We continue to use any and every opportunity to advocate for babies & families, and we are actively involved in several networks and want to continue to do this, especially in the Tees Valley and the North East & North Cumbria regions.
Alongside our friends at Thrive at 5 and others working in Redcar & Cleveland we met the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Of course, Beth took the opportunity to share our resource cards with him and to raise the issue of child poverty which disproportionately affects children in Teesside.
Beth also took part in a skydive in August and raised £1500 for Close-Knit; if you want to see someone get progressively more scared as an experience continues you can check out the video here.
Can you help?
In 2025 we will continue to strengthen our newly formed trustee team, staff & volunteers, to build on our products and services as well as develop new innovative ideas to support babies as early as possible.
Can you help us on our mission to give babies positive relationships & experiences?
Can you spread the word & share about our resources & training with friends, family, colleagues & organisations?
By doing so, you are supporting babies to have the best start in life.
Close-Knit Families can continue to benefit babies, their families and those who interact with them in 2025 because of the grants & donations from generous people and trusts like ‘The Woodward Charitable Trust’ and ‘The Ballinger Charitable Trust’ and through the sales of licenses for our video and our training packages.
Can you donate to the work of Close-Knit Families? Find out more here
Could you help us through fundraising for Close-Knit? It could be something crazy like a skydive or something potentially less stressful like a sponsored walk– get in touch with us here.
THANK YOU
We are a small charity with big dreams, we are so thankful to be here still, making a difference where we can and we are so thankful to YOU, for your part in the Close-Knit story whether that is as a parent, practitioner, organisation lead, funder, partner or general Close-Knit fan.
A special thank you to the Close-Knit team who are always busy doing good; Close-Knit runs on a small number of paid hours, so the volunteers’ time, skills, support and wisdom are much appreciated!
We hope you have a Merry Christmas and get to rest and have fun with loved ones.
We are taking a break and will be back to it on Monday 6th January 2024.
With love,
Beth and the Close-Knit Families team
PS If you haven’t already, sign up to our mailing list for more updates, blogs and resources from Close-Knit Families
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