FNP graduate, Jumaima, meets Duchess of Cambridge at Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood launch

Jumaima at the launch of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood

Evelina London Patron, The Duchess of Cambridge, met with Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) graduate Jumaima, at the launch of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.

Jumaima was invited to an event at Kensington Palace to mark the launch of the new dedicated centre and discuss early childhood development. Twenty-three-year-old, Jumaima, who has a three year old son, had previously met The Duchess in 2019 when she visited the FNP team at Sunshine House in Peckham.

The Family Nurse Partnership is delivered by our community services in Southwark. The programme supports young mums to have a healthy pregnancy, and improve their child’s health and development. Parents are partnered with a specially trained family nurse who visits them regularly from early pregnancy until the child is up to two years old.

The new Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood highlights awareness of the impact a child’s earliest years has on their whole life and on society as a whole. It will focus on sharing research, awareness campaigns and working with people from across all sectors to collaborate on new solutions.

At 19 years old, Jumaima became pregnant with her son and started working with one of our family nurses, Cecilia, from the FNP programme. Cecilia helped Jumaima find suitable housing and supported her throughout the whole process.

Commenting on the support of the FNP programme, graduate Jumaima said: “I think the home visits definitely made a difference to how I am a mum, and also keeping that same family nurse was a great help because it helps with stability. It made me more comfortable to share and be more open, and you know you can work through questions with them.”

On her meeting with The Duchess of Cambridge, Jumaima said: “We spoke about how much parents need help as well as kids, because you can only be a good parent if you're also looking after yourself. We talked about counselling for parents and the tools that can be implemented into the system for parents.”

Family nurse, Cecilia Welsh, said: “We’re delighted that Jumaima was invited to Kensington Palace to meet with The Duchess of Cambridge for the launch of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood and to share her experiences of FNP. Jumaima has first-hand experience about what support young mums need and how to give little ones the very best start in life.”

Family Nurse Partnership is delivered in 59 areas across England and each local team is made up of specially trained family nurse supervisors, family nurses and quality support officers.

The Duchess of Cambridge became Patron of Evelina London in December 2018. Read more about The Duchess' role as Patron.