Helen Dent, chief executive of Family Action, said that early intervention and home-based family support played a crucial role but that in order to tackle disadvantage, Sure Start centres must remain universal.
She also warned the coalition Government against 'salami slicing and paring budgets' so that work would focus solely on the most vulnerable families.
Speaking at the eighth annual Sure Start conference in London, Ms Dent said that children’s centres could provide ‘a starting point for the Big Society’ because they had the capacity to reach 2.7 million children and their families every week. She said they offered a path for the ‘most vulnerable and disengaged families’ into the mainstream.
‘There is massive potential there, and working in the most deprived communities the best centres engage parents, build their confidence, get them participating in activities and feeling empowered to work in their communities through volunteering and peer support,’ said Ms Dent.
There was a danger in having centres move away from a multi-agency approach to be run solely by schools or health services, she said, because it could lead to a narrow focus on health and education outcomes, leaving parents' needs marginalised.
She also stressed the value of specialist early years provision.
‘Some people say the answer to budget pressures and value for money is co-location of children’s centres in schools. But early years provision is a distinctive specialism, and schools should recognise the Sure Start model of quality childcare backed up and championing parental involvement and support is one which they should learn from.
'We find that effective parenting and family support begins in the home with our services, moves to children’s centres when parents have the confidence and drive to participate more fully in their child’s life, and suddenly ends when their child starts school, because so many schools fail to continue to engage them. It is time for schools to pick up the baton of effective parenting and family support and to champion services that disadvantaged families rely on to succeed.’
She added, ‘The move to the mainstream needs to be managed by specialist family support in the home, progressing to Sure Start centres when individual families are ready and able. People are not auto-empowered – simply giving a family a map does not mean they will get to the centre by themselves and make the most of them. They need someone to put them on the path and help them on their way.’
Ms Dent said that in times of cuts, providers could start to think more creatively about how they could get better use out of their buildings. In her closing remarks, she urged the coalition Government to support the pledge to protect Sure Start centres.
