Parents Are Not Visitors: New Presence Study Toolkit Launches

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals around the world restricted parental presence in NICUs in an effort to protect patients and staff.

But those restrictions also highlighted something families have long known:

Parents are not visitors. Parents are essential members of their baby's care team.

Following the groundbreaking Presence Study led by Dr. Marsha Campbell-Yeo, MOM-LINC Lab, and Fabiana Bacchini, CPBF, 13 evidence-based recommendations were developed to help protect parent presence in neonatal intensive care units.

The challenge, however, was never simply knowing what should be done. The challenge was helping healthcare teams put those recommendations into practice.

That's why the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation and MOM-LINC Lab partnered with the Family-Centered Care (FCC) Taskforce, researchers, clinicians, and family partners to help develop the new Presence Study Implementation Toolkit.

Over the course of 18 months, 23 volunteer authors from across Canada and the United States worked together to create practical tools and resources that help healthcare teams translate evidence into action. The toolkit is grounded in both clinical expertise and lived experience, ensuring that the voices of families remain at the center of implementation efforts.

The launch of the toolkit represents an important step forward for family-integrated care and builds on years of work advocating for the role of parents as essential partners in the care of hospitalized infants.

CPBF extends its sincere appreciation to the many contributors who helped bring this resource to life, including FCC Taskforce Advocacy Committee Co-Chairs Kerri Machut and Nicole Nyberg, FCC Taskforce Founder Dr. Malathi Balasundaram, Director of Operations Morgan Kowalski, Dr. Marsha Campbell-Yeo, and CPBF Executive Director Fabiana Bacchini.

Because presence is not extra.

Presence is care.

Explore the Presence Study Implementation Toolkit