Baby Cafés and Volunteers
A Baby Café drop-in
should be a fully funded, mainstream service run by paid facilitators and freely
accessed by all mothers needing support with breastfeeding.
However our annual statistics show that every year volunteers across
the UK and in other countries give literally thousands of hours of their
own time to help run Baby Café drop-ins and support breastfeeding
mums. This enables more mums and babies to be helped to breastfeed
for as long as they want. Click
here to read about some of the different ways volunteers are involved
in Baby Cafés. If you are interested in setting up a Baby Café in
association with your local health care providers you will find further
information on our page for Health Professionals.
The Baby Café Handbook
All our licensed drop-ins receive a copy of The Baby Café Handbook
which outlines in great detail everything you need to know about setting
up and running a Baby Café drop-in. We recommend that the handbook be made
available to volunteers and peer supporters so that
everyone involved is aware of the policies and aims of The Baby
Café. Every Baby Café has one so if you haven't seen it ask your
facilitator to share it with you.
Roles, Rights and Responsibilities
As a volunteer you can expect your Baby Café facilitator to communicate
clearly to you your role, rights and responsibilities. She should
explain any procedures for health and safety, record-keeping and
confidentiality, and let you know about opportunities for training,
feedback and support and for reimbursement of out-of-pocket
expenses. For further information click
here.
If difficulties arise you should first discuss these with the person
in your Baby Café staff team who is responsible
for the co-ordination of volunteers within the drop-in. If resolution
is not possible at this level the problem/complaint can be referred to the
National Baby Café Coordinators via our administrator.
You may also find the Health Professionals homepage
and Mums homepage useful guides to
relevant parts of our website.
