The Challenge

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood wanted to build a rich and detailed picture of what it means to be a parent in modern day Britain. Following their '5 Big Questions' study, they needed a ground-breaking qualitative research partner to go deeper, exploring the full parent journey from pregnancy to age five, with a particular focus on the experiences and support needs of parents with children aged 2–4, a period that existing research had largely overlooked.

The ambition was to produce findings that would not only make headlines but shift thinking across the early years sector, inform the Foundation's own strategic priorities, and ultimately help shape better support for parents and children across the UK. Good Innovation was brought in as the research partner to design and deliver the study from the ground up.

The Solution

We designed and delivered a multi-phase qualitative research programme, combining rigorous desk research with an immersive, hybrid fieldwork approach. This included 30 in-depth interviews with parents spanning pregnancy through to age five, six in-home ethnographies, and ten expert interviews with leading voices across child development, healthcare, and early years policy.

Recruitment was designed to prioritise socioeconomic diversity and over-index on the 2–4 age group, an intentional strategic choice driven by identified gaps in existing research and a recognised drop-off in formal NHS support after 24–36 months. Our expert panel brought in voices from institutions including Harvard University, the NHS, Anna Freud, and Nesta, ensuring findings were grounded in both lived experience and specialist knowledge.

The research was guided by five core lines of enquiry, exploring child health and wellbeing, parental mental health, information and support-seeking, the role of technology, and the influence of broader societal pressures. Findings were translated into a comprehensive public-facing report, with clear strategic implications for the Foundation and the wider sector.

The Impact

The research surfaced seven powerful insights about the realities of modern parenting, from the financial and emotional toll of raising young children, to the growing sense of isolation parents feel, to a striking gap in support and guidance around children's social and emotional development. These findings have directly informed The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood's strategy, and the work was published as a major public-facing report in May 2025.

Good Innovation's combined specialist qualitative expertise with a deep understanding of the early years sector, produced insight that is both academically robust and powerfully human, giving the Foundation the evidence base it needs to drive meaningful, lasting change for parents and children across the UK.