Keep an overall picture:
- Use a referral tracking sheet to continually monitor all expectant or post birth parents requesting support and to review whether the support process is going as expected
- It is useful to set up separate filing systems for parents actively being supported and for those that have finished support.
Referrals tracking sheet
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Your staff will need to respond in a timely way when a woman requests support. Preparing a batch of initial visit packs in advance will help you to do this.
The documents listed below will help staff to carry out an initial home visit. The purpose of the visit is to explore with the pregnant woman (and her partner) whether one-to-one peer support could be helpful.
| Name of record | When | Who | Purpose | Content |
| Checklist for initial visit | During initial home visit | Member of staff carrying out the initial home visit | An aide memoire of what to cover during the visit | The key steps that need to be covered during the visit |
|
Initial information form (mum-to-be)
Initial information form (dad-to-be) |
During initial home visit | Member of staff | The main purposes are to:
|
|
| What to expect from your volunteer peer supporter | During initial home visit | Member of staff | Clarifies how a peer support can help to manage expectations/assist the parent to understand the ground rules and boundaries of the role and help them consider whether they would like a peer supporter |
|
| Initial visit risk assessment | After initial home visit | Member of staff | To identify any potential risks to the volunteer to assist the coordinator to take appropriate action to minimise them | Guidance for assessing high, medium and low categories |
Initial visit pack
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Before one-to-one support starts, set up a parent file for each parent. Assign a code to each individual parent to help protect confidentiality and to provide an alphabetical or numerical order to your filing system.
Listed below are some useful records to include in a parent file.
| Name of record | When | Who | Purpose | Content |
| Expectant parent front of file checklist | Parent starts one-to-one support | Member of staff who carried out the initial home visit | To record the overall journey of peer support provided to each parent to monitor whether all steps have been completed | Key steps from beginning to end of support is recorded in one place |
|
Family chronological record sheet |
Ongoing | Member of staff | To record any significant information relevant to providing quality support to the family |
Examples:
|
| Safeguarding summary | Ongoing | Member of staff | To provide an ‘at a glance’ overview of ongoing significant safeguarding concerns to assist clarify as part of an ongoing review of risk. Also an aide memoire for safeguarding supervision sessions | Chronology of significant child or vulnerable adult safeguarding issues, information shared and received from others, decisions reached at interagency safeguarding meetings etc. |
| Summary of volunteer peer supporter time spent | End of support | Member of staff | Volunteer time given to each parent is often substantial. Tracking the total time spent can be used for celebrating the volunteer’s contribution and also for demonstrating value to funders | Total time spent on home visits, labour and birth support, other support sessions and telephone support |
Parent file documents
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The member of staff who carried out the initial home visit will need to then introduce a volunteer to the expectant parent/s.
Prepare some introductory visit packs in advance that contain everything needed throughout the home visiting process.
It may be useful to include some of the tools and records listed below.
|
Name of record |
When |
Who |
Purpose |
Content |
|
Checklist for introductory visit |
Before and during the introductory visit |
Member of staff and volunteer |
An aide memoire of what is needed to be covered before and after the introductory visit |
Prompts / reminders of key steps to cover before and after the visit |
|
Comments, compliments and complaints leaflet |
During the introductory visit |
Volunteer |
To invite the parent to give feedback and to make it easy for them to do so |
|
|
“Sorry I missed you” cards |
If parent/s is not in for a pre-arranged visit |
Volunteer |
To make parent/s aware that the volunteer has attempted to visit |
Request for parent to contact volunteer to agree a new time to meet up |
|
“When I will next see you” cards |
For organising support visits |
Volunteer |
A reminder for the parent about the date, time and place of next visit |
Series blank entries for dates |
|
Ideas for things we could look at together – pregnancy |
Throughout the home visiting process during pregnancy |
Volunteer and expectant parents |
To help expectant parents to identify topics they would like their volunteer to focus on during home visits
To help the volunteer to select information to share during each home visit that the expectant parents are interested in
To collect data for monitoring and evaluation purposes
|
Topics include:
|
|
One-to-one diary sheet |
A new sheet is completed by the volunteer after each parent support session |
Volunteer |
Used to enable the volunteer to reflect on the session; record the goals/next steps the parent/s want to work on; and plan the next visit. Prompts the volunteer to contact their supervisor if any concerns.
|
Monitoring and evaluation data Summary of support that took place Identifying any concerns Reminders for next support session |
|
Telephone Record sheet |
The volunteer uses this to record any significant telephone calls or text messages |
Volunteer |
Reminds volunteer about issues arising between support session. Assists planning and also reflection during supervision. |
Records details of dates, time spent and brief summary of support. Monitoring and evaluation data (volunteer time spent on ad hoc support and type of support given. |
|
Where are we now Questionnaire |
The volunteer completes this with the parent/s at 34-36 weeks of pregnancy (*39 weeks for late referrals) |
Volunteer |
To enable volunteer and parent to reflect together on the support process and for the parent to identify next steps. Useful for gathering evaluation data and to structure an open and honest discussion between volunteer and parent about the quality/usefulness of the support given; celebrate the parent's achievements to date; and to plan what ongoing support would be useful. Provides an opportunity for the volunteer to share their enjoyment of supporting the parent. |
Feedback questions for parent/s about the quality/value of the support given; reflecting on what has been covered to date; whether support should continue; and what to work on next. |
|
Ideas for things we could look at together – being a parent |
Throughout the home visiting process after the birth of the baby |
Volunteer and parent/s |
To help parents to identify topics they would like their volunteer to focus on during home visits
To help the volunteer to select information to share during each home visit that the parents are interested in
To collect data for monitoring and evaluation purposes
|
Topics include:
|
|
Postnatal family booklet |
Used by the volunteer following support during labour, birth and during the postnatal period |
Volunteer |
To guide the volunteer through the stages of support during labour, birth and after the birth of the baby Also gathers some monitoring and evaluation data |
Includes:
Postnatal section
|
Introductory visit pack
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It’s important that a member of staff gives the pregnant woman an informal phone call a few weeks later. This is a simple quality check to make sure things are going as planned. It is also an opportunity to collect some evaluation data.
| Name of record | When | Who | Purpose | Content |
|
Evaluation |
After several home visits have been carried out by the volunteer | Member of staff |
To understand the quality of the relationship developing between the parent and the volunteer To gain feedback from the expectant parent/s To collect monitoring and evaluation data |
Simple questions exploring how the relationship with their volunteer is going Requests for parent’s ideas Follow-on self-rating scales to compare against baselines at initial visit (11 scales) |
Evaluation questionnaire late pregnancy
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For continuity, the same member of staff who carried out the initial visit, and quality check can also contact the parent for some final feedback when the peer support ends. If the parent is happy, local health professionals involved in their care can also be informed that the support has ended.
Download the documents listed below.
| Name of record | When | Who | Purpose | Content |
|
3 month post birth questionnaire
|
At end of support |
Member of staff |
To gain final feedback from the parent/s about the quality of support provided To collect monitoring and evaluation data To encourage the parent to contribute to the programme
|
Questions about:
|
|
End of support letter
|
At end of support |
Member of staff |
To inform relevant professionals that the peer support has ended |
Includes any additional information that the parent has consented to share |
|
End of support letter disengaged no contact (agencies)
|
If the volunteer started supporting the parent but contact couldn’t be maintained |
Member of staff |
To inform relevant professionals that the peer support has ended |
Explanation of why the support has ended |
|
End of support letter disengaged (parent)
|
If the volunteer started supporting the parent but contact couldn’t be maintained |
Member of staff |
To inform the parent that no further contact will be made unless requested |
Explanation that staff and volunteer have been trying to get in touch Offering a different volunteer if needed and requesting the parent gets in touch |
|
Photo consent form
|
At end of support |
Member of staff |
To request permission to use any photographic images that include the parent and their baby/children to promote the programme (if appropriate) |
Explanation of different ways the images could be used (parent can choose option to tick as appropriate and offered opportunity to make consent explicit) |
End of support documents
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