Parenting Horizons Speaker Series

Trigger Warning: baby loss

An estimated one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage.  An average of 8 babies a day are stillborn.  Some people will experience multiple losses.  Most workplaces have staff who have been or may be affected.

There are just under 700,000 babies born in the UK each year of which around 400 will be born to the parents via surrogates.

There were 83,840 children in the care of local authorities at the end of March 2023. There are just under 3000 children adopted each year in the UK.

We were delighted to be joined by Dr Arlene Weekes and Mike Johnson-Ellis to discuss some of the different ways of building a family that you, your colleagues or your team members may be a part of. As an employer or an employee, we aim to increase an understanding of these pathways and how you may need to adapt your policies and practices to meet different situations.

With 34 years’ experience in the social work profession Arlene has held many roles, including probation officer, leaving care team manager, child protection chair, fostering and adoption panel chair and independent reporting officer for both foster carers and children.

Mike set up TwoDadsUK® with his partner Wes back in 2016, after the birth of their first child.  They are also Founders of The Modern Family Show and the UK’s leading surrogacy non profit organisation My Surrogacy Journey® which launched in Feb 2021 and has a Number 1 Podcast; My Surrogacy Journey – The Podcast

This webinar is on Supporting working parents with children’s mental health in partnership with WIBF.

We were pleased to welcome an incredible panel of speakers to this webinar –  Sir Peter Wanless, the CEO of NSPCC who set the scene and state of play with children’s mental health. Following on we heard from Stuart White, CEO of HSBC AM and Alison Unsted, CEO of MindForward Alliance about being a working parent as well as the support required and how fostering an open culture in the workplace to support parents is essential.

Agenda below:

The cost of childcare in Britain is the third-most expensive in the world, according to data from the OECD.

Research* shows that 98% of mothers want to return to work, yet 85% leave their full-time jobs within three years of having a child.

In this webinar we discussed what needs to be done, and practical steps member firms can take to support colleagues.

We were pleased to welcome a great panel of speakers to this webinar:

Joeli Brearley, Pregnant Then Screwed. Joeli founded Pregnant Then Screwed in 2015 after her own experience of pregnancy discrimination. She writes for the Telegraph, is the winner of the Northern Power Women Agent for Change award, is an Amnesty International Human Rights Defender and a member of the United Nations Working Group: Women’s Human Rights in the Changing World of Work. In January 2021 she took the Government to court for indirect sex discrimination due to the way self employed mothers were being financially penalised by the income support scheme. Her debut book: ”Pregnant Then Screwed: The Truth about the Motherhood Penalty, and how to fix it’’ was published by Simon & Schuster on the 4th March 2021.

Oliver Daniels, Bubble: Oliver currently works at Bubble as Head of Corporate Services. Previously, they worked as a Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consultant at The Kaleidoscope Group. Oliver also held key positions at My Family Care – part of Bright Horizons, including Business Development Manager, Operations Manager, and Customer Service Manager. Oliver was also a Business Development Manager at Bright Horizons UK. Prior to these roles, they worked as a Customer Services Supervisor at 3663 First for Foodservice and had freelance roles as an Account Planner at The Marketing Store, and as a Copywriter at TDA (The Direct Agency) LLP and Direct Marketing Services.

Source: Careers after Babies’ report.