Kate Middleton and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood have announced a new project aimed at improving support for babies and families across the UK.
The initiative, described as especially close to the heart of the Princess of Wales, will expand work around the Alarm Distress Baby Scale, known as ADBB. The tool is designed to help health professionals better understand babies’ behaviour, particularly signs of social withdrawal.
Announcing the project on social media, the foundation wrote, “Today, we are announcing further investment in our work to bring the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) to the UK.”
The post was shared with the caption, “Giving babies a voice.”
The announcement follows a positive evaluation of the approach, which recommended that ADBB be commissioned more widely across the country. As part of the next phase, the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood will fund the Institute of Health Visiting to develop a commissioning guide, create UK-focused resources, and set up a national ADBB Community of Practice.
According to the evaluation, ADBB training helps practitioners better understand infant social withdrawal and increases their confidence in observing and interpreting babies’ behaviour.
Health visitors involved in the work said they felt better able to explain a baby’s perspective during conversations with families and, in doing so, help “give the baby a voice.”
The foundation said the approach can help professionals and families understand what babies are communicating from the earliest stages of life. This, it added, could make it easier to identify where extra support may be needed sooner.
Kate first saw the tool in action during a visit to Denmark in February 2022, when she met health visitors using the approach. Since then, the Centre has been working with the Institute of Health Visiting to bring the benefits of ADBB to families in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
