The Parish Trust has announced the launch of Plant, a new early years and family wellbeing programme designed to support children and families from pregnancy through the crucial earliest years of a child’s life.
The programme will be led by Megan Roberts, who has been appointed Early Years Programme Manager, bringing together and developing The Parish Trust’s growing work with babies, young children and their families.
The name Plant has a deliberate double meaning. Plant is the Welsh word for children, while the programme itself is about planting strong foundations in the earliest stages of life, helping children and their families to grow and flourish.
Plant has been developed as a preventative early-years programme, with particular emphasis on the first 1,001 days, recognising the importance of parental wellbeing, attachment, physical health, social support and early intervention during pregnancy and infancy.
Root. Grow. Flower.
Activities delivered through Plant will sit beneath three interconnected programme strands:
Root: emotional wellbeing
Root will focus on the foundations of early relationships, including activities such as baby massage, rhyme and story sessions, bonding, attachment, early communication and building parental confidence.
Grow: physical wellbeing and development
Grow will support healthy development through activities including antenatal and postnatal wellbeing and fitness, toddler movement, messy and sensory play, healthy routines and opportunities for children to learn through movement and play.
Flower: community and connection
Flower will help families build the relationships around them, creating a supported journey from pregnancy into parenthood through antenatal meet-ups, postnatal support, stay-and-play opportunities and shared milestones. Its aim is to reduce isolation and help lasting friendships and informal support networks to develop.
Rather than creating another stand-alone service, Plant is intended to become an early-years pathway running through The Parish Trust’s wider work.
A particularly important connection will be with The Parish Trust Baby Bank, which was established in 2025 to provide essential items to families experiencing financial hardship during pregnancy and early parenthood.
During its first year, the Baby Bank supported 411 family referrals, backed by 1,255 hours of volunteer time, with referrals received from professionals including midwives, health visitors, social services, schools and community organisations.
Plant will enable the charity to go further. A family who first comes into contact with The Parish Trust because they urgently need a pram, cot, clothing or other essential items could also be offered opportunities for longer-term support, friendship, wellbeing and early-years development.
The intention is to create a journey from immediate practical help towards stability, confidence, connection and resilience.
Initial funding towards the development of the programme has been secured from BBC Children in Need, with further funding currently pending to enable The Parish Trust to significantly expand Plant and increasingly dovetail early-years support into its other services and referral pathways.
Plant will be based primarily at the charity’s Trethomas Life Centre, while working closely with health visitors, midwives, social workers, schools, social prescribing services and other statutory and voluntary-sector partners. The wider vision is for Plant to act as a trusted, locally embedded point of connection for early-years families across the community.
Dean Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of The Parish Trust, said:
“For a long time we have been helping families when something has already gone wrong such as when there isn’t enough food in the house, when a family cannot afford the things their baby needs, when somebody is isolated, overwhelmed or simply doesn’t know where to turn.
“Plant is about asking what happens if we can get alongside families earlier.
“Those first years matter enormously. If we can help a parent feel less alone, strengthen the bond between parent and baby, build confidence, create friendships and connect a family with support before a problem becomes a crisis, that can make a difference far beyond one session or one programme.
“I also love that Plant isn’t intended to become another little project sitting in isolation. The vision is that early years becomes part of the DNA of The Parish Trust. The Baby Bank might be somebody’s first doorway into the charity, but through Root, Grow and Flower we want there to be a whole journey of support around that family.
“We are enormously grateful to BBC Children in Need for helping us begin that journey. We now have further funding pending which, if successful, will allow us to build something much more substantial and connect Plant into the wider range of services The Parish Trust already provides.”
Megan Roberts, Early Years Programme Manager, said:
“The earliest years of a child’s life are such an important time, but they can also be some of the most demanding years for parents. People don’t always need a formal intervention. Sometimes they need good information, encouragement, somewhere welcoming to go and people around them who understand what life is like at that stage.
“That is what I want Plant to feel like. Root is about helping parents and babies build those really important early connections; Grow is about movement, development and wellbeing; and Flower is about the relationships and community around a family which help them thrive.
“What makes this particularly special is the opportunity to link it with the Baby Bank and the wider work of The Parish Trust. We can respond to practical need while also creating opportunities for families to build confidence, friendships and support networks for the future.
“I’m really looking forward to listening to families, working alongside local professionals and developing Plant into something that families feel belongs to them.”
The Parish Trust expects Plant to develop progressively as additional funding is secured, with a mixture of group programmes, specialist sessions, peer support and partnership activity.
The charity’s longer-term ambition is for the programme to contribute to improved parental wellbeing, stronger parent–infant relationships, reduced isolation, greater confidence and earlier access to support for families who need it.
Plant will start to roll out its offering over the coming months, details of which will be shared on our social media accounts, website, and via our referral partners.
