Opinion: Editor's view

The perils of trying to reach hard-to-reach families are illustrated by new Government research evaluating the pilot of free nursery places for disadvantaged two-year-olds (see News, page 5).

A variety of tactics were used to try to engage eligible parents, but some sound to have backfired spectacularly. The report paints a picture of outreach workers roaming the streets (in pairs for safety) and identifying likely targets through signs such as shopping in budget supermarkets or being poorly dressed. (Obviously, we should all beware doing our weekly shop in Asda and make sure we don't venture out of the house unless smartly clothed!)

Not surprisingly, some parents took exception to being stopped on the street and asked questions about their household income on the grounds that they looked as though they might need childcare to rescue their toddler. It would be hard to avoid feeling stigmatised in these circumstances.

Other problems arose because outreach workers used their discretion to decide who to sign up, especially where target groups were too broadly defined. This meant that individual beliefs such as feeling that traveller families wouldn't want to take part, or that hearing impairment was difficult to diagnose at two, effectively stopped invitations to those groups.

There is no easy answer. There will be criticism if Government-subsidised schemes fail to reach the most needy, and flak if outreach looks clumsy. Time, sensitivity, experience and resources are all needed in large quantities to reach out successfully and make families want to be involved.