Children's centres must do more outreach work to target families most in need, train staff in financial expertise and liaise with local authorities to establish the real cost of their services.
A report for Parliament from the National Audit Office (NAO) found that only nine out of 30 centres visited by the NAO were reaching teenage mothers, parents of disabled children and some ethnic minority parents.
While the children's centre initiative has exceeded its target of reaching 650,000 children in deprived areas by March 2006, phase two targets were ambitious and 'most will need to find innovative ways to fund new centres', the report said.
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