With the recent death of Elinor Goldschmied, now is perhaps a good time to focus again on one of her key achievements. In 1993, working with her co-author Sonia Jackson, she outlined a system to provide better care for babies and toddlers in nurseries, which they called the 'key person' approach.
They defined this as 'promoting a special relationship between the child, his family and a particular caregiver' through specific work practices, including the key person undertaking a home visit before the child begins, working closely with the child and parent to settle the child into the nursery, attending to intimate care routines like nappy changing and toileting, and organising a regular small gathering of the key group which they called the 'island of intimacy'.
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