GIFT, LIFT, and the Transatlantic Shift: translating an infant mental health intervention from the USA to the UK—implications for permanency decision-making, law, and policy

Abstract Evidence about the impact of maltreatment during infancy and concerning outcomes for children in care indicates the need for infant mental health assessment and interventions that are integrated with robust permanency decision processes. The NSPCC developed infant mental health services in the United Kingdom, based on the New Orleans Intervention Model (NIM), aiming to improve outcomes and decision-making for children under 5 in foster/kinship care. The Best Services RCT (BeST?) evaluated the clinical and cost effectiveness of NIM: results will be published separately. This article describes translating NIM’s multisystemic, relationship-focused assessment and intervention to Infant and Family Teams in Glasgow, Scotland, and in London, England, from the clinical service perspective. Details are provided about the approach taken, variations, and challenges relating to the local decision-making contexts. The model and its implementation in the UK are outlined. Clinical audit data are presented about progression through stages of the service, the interventions offered, and the typical experiences of infants across the two services. Multidisciplinary infant mental health teams in Glasgow and London were successfully established to promote infants’ recoveries and made recommendations to the respective legal and decision-making systems. Clear differences were found about accessing the services, permanency decision-making, and timescales. The impact of these differences for children and the implications for those wishing to develop similar integrated services are discussed.