What I’ve learned in my first year embedding For Baby’s Sake across the North East of England

by Brooke Fenwick

Brooke Fenwick qualified as a social worker in 2013 and has extensive experience supporting families across a range of children’s services. Her career has included work in safeguarding, supporting children in care, and managing edge-of-care intensive support and family group conference services. Brooke has also worked directly with young people in a secure children’s home, providing support to those with complex needs and experiences. Brooke is proud to be part of The For Baby’s Sake Trust as their North East Team Manager, where the organisation’s ethos and values closely reflect the principles that have guided her throughout her career. She is passionate about working alongside families to create safer, healthier futures for babies, children and parents.

Embedding an established programme across a new region can present as many challenges as opportunities; both of which can be exacerbated by the complexities of your service. Last year, I was thrilled to take the reins as The For Baby’s Sake Trust’s first Team Manager in the North East of England, leading the roll-out of the programme in County Durham and Darlington.

The For Baby’s Sake Trust is the charity responsible for delivering For Baby’s Sake; a trauma-informed, therapeutic programme that works with both parents (the parent causing harm and the parent who is being harmed) to break cycles of domestic abuse, explore unresolved childhood trauma and create safer, nurturing environments for babies. As Team Manager of the Therapeutic Practitioners delivering the programme, I have had the opportunity to work alongside them and directly with parents. This has deepened my understanding of the programme’s value and the meaningful impact it can have on families.

One of the most significant lessons for me has been the transformative potential of working with both parents in parallel. When both receive support, it can reduce blame, increase accountability and create space for more honest reflection on the impact of their relationship on their baby. Intervening during pregnancy and early parenthood feels especially powerful, as this is often a time when parents are more open to change and more able to recognise how conflict, stress and trauma can affect their child’s development, attachment and sense of safety.

Putting the baby at the centre of the work has been one of the most powerful aspects of the programme. Helping parents consider their baby’s perspective often reframes their understanding of their own behaviour and relationship dynamics. Discussions about attunement, bonding and the developing brain can open up meaningful conversations about responsibility, repair and the importance of creating emotional and physical safety. Shame-free, compassionate engagement encourages greater honesty, and that healing requires safety, trust, consistency and long-term support if change is to be sustained.

This work has deepened my self-awareness. It has required me to manage my own emotional responses, remain grounded during difficult conversations, challenge behaviour supportively and reflect on my own values and triggers. This has been particularly important when supporting co-parents to navigate conflict safely during heightened emotions. It has also challenged me to think critically about the balance between empathy and accountability. Working in a trauma-informed way does not mean excusing harmful behaviour; it means understanding its roots while still holding parents responsible for their choices and keeping the baby’s safety at the centre.

Seeing the impact on families has reinforced for me that meaningful change is often found in small but significant moments: a parent pausing before reacting, showing curiosity about their baby’s needs, or speaking more openly about their own experiences. These subtle shifts can mark the start of safer relationships, improved attachment and healthier family patterns. At the same time, progress is rarely linear. Families can move forward and backwards, disengage, or continue to present risks despite considerable support. These experiences have strengthened my patience, resilience and ability to hold hope while remaining realistic about the limits of any single intervention and the importance of persistence, multi-agency working and a non-judgemental approach.

This experience has also made me reflect on the emotional responsibility that comes with both direct practice and leadership. Supporting Therapeutic Practitioners to hold complex family dynamics, whilst also holding those experiences myself, has highlighted the importance of reflective supervision, professional curiosity and emotional containment. I have become more aware of the need to model calmness, consistency and compassion within the team, because the way we support one another inevitably shapes the quality of support families receive.

For Baby’s Sake has fundamentally shaped the way I approach this work. It has strengthened my belief in the importance of early intervention, therapeutic relationships and keeping the baby’s lived experience at the centre of every conversation. It has also reminded me that lasting change is more likely when we work with compassion, curiosity and accountability together, rather than relying on judgment alone. I would encourage others to think about what becomes possible when we create space for parents to feel safe enough to reflect, while never losing sight of the baby’s need for safety, stability and nurture. For me, that balance has been one of the most important lessons of all. Some other takeaways for frontline practitioners from my time with For Baby’s Sake include:

• Keep the baby’s experience in focus. Whether working in domestic abuse, safeguarding or early years, centring the baby’s emotional and developmental needs can help guide assessment, intervention and conversations with parents.
• Balance compassion with accountability. Trauma-informed practice is most effective when it creates space for reflection and change, while still being clear about harm, responsibility and the need for safety.
• Make use of reflective spaces. Supervision, peer reflection and multi-agency discussion are essential in this work, not only to support good decision-making but also to help practitioners manage the emotional impact of working with complex family experiences.

Overall, being part of a service that allows time and space to build therapeutic relationships over a sustained period has reinforced the values that brought me into social work. I feel proud to be part of work that supports parents to break cycles of domestic abuse and give babies the best possible start in life.