However, although the study showed that children’s centres can help to improve the lives of the most vulnerable families in the poorest parts of the country, they cannot be expected to solve all the problems families face in growing up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, the researchers said.
The report on the impact of children’s centres for families is the latest from a six-year research study, the national Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England (ECCE), which was commissioned by the Department for Education in 2009, to look at different approaches to managing and operating children’s centre services.
Families that were significantly less well off financially also had ‘significantly poorer family functioning, poorer health, and experienced a greater number of stressful life events’ than other families.
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