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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 57ZA: 57ZA: Clause 14, page 9, line 14, at end insert— ““( ) After subsection (5) insert— ““(5A) A woman shall not be provided with treatment services unless the woman being treated and, where she is being treated together with a partner, the partner have— (a) received information and advice on issues relating to child development, and (b) participated in a discussion with— (i) a specialist social worker, (ii) a paediatrician, (iii) a psychologist, or (iv) such other person as may be prescribed in regulations, about issues relating to child development.”””” The noble Earl said: My amendment is on meeting professionals to discuss child development. Its effect is to ensure that each couple or individual seeking a child through IVF has a meeting with a paediatrician, a psychologist or another expert on child development to consider the developmental needs of the child. This is a probing amendment related to the issues raised in the previous grouping on what happens in practice, and how to support families by doing all that we can to ensure that children born through this process have the best life chances. The earliest intervention is normally desirable; that is the basis for much of the Government’s policy toward children and families. My noble friend Lady Warnock told us at Second Reading, as we have heard, that clinicians currently pay little attention to the requirement that consideration of a child’s need for a father is given during the assessment for IVF treatment. While counselling is offered, take-up of that is low and can be in the region of 15 per cent. How might support for these families be strengthened at this early stage? I would be interested in the literature of which the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, spoke, to see how helpful that is. Members of the Committee may have seen the excellent documentary about the impact of postnatal depression on the normal development of an infant which was broadcast last Wednesday on Channel 4. ““Help Me Love My Baby”” showed a child psychotherapist from the Anna Freud Centre working with a young mother. The mother's depression was unexpected. Six months after the birth, the baby Isabel was unable to meet her mother's gaze or take comfort from her mother when distressed. We later learned various things about the maternal grandmother, who was an alcoholic who abandoned her daughter at the age of 12. Isabel’s mother risked repeating the cycle in which she grew up—the cycle of rejection from one generation to another. The presence of another parent with uncomplicated, normal parental feelings towards Isabel would have been an important protective factor. A discussion with a paediatrician or psychologist might help parents to build strategies to minimise risks to their infants if, for example, they are a lone parent going into this process. A lone parent might be advised about the value of having a co-parent or surrogate from the very beginning, about the need to contact a health visitor as soon as she felt in danger of being troubled by isolation or about the importance of having a godfather or similar figure from the very beginning. We talk about engaging men in the lives of adolescents and the importance of male mentors, but they are very hard to come by. If one were to begin by making a man a part of the child's growth from the very early stages of development, there would be more chance of success. It would still be difficult, but an interested male would be involved in the later development of that person. As I said, this is a probing amendment. I would be grateful to learn from the Minister what additional support is offered to families in these exceptional circumstances to help them think about the challenges that their children may face. I beg to move.