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Memorandum submitted by 4Children
Summary
1. 4Children welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the Select Committee inquiry on Sure Start. Our submission is drawn on our experience and involvement throughout the lifetime of the programme:
· As shapers of the original Sure Start for the CSR with the Norman Glass team at the Treasury · As advocates of Children's Centres in the 2001 Childcare Commission which called for 10,000 Children Centres · As architects of the Children Centre rollout through the secondment of 4Children's Chief Executive to the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit in 2001 to advise on the 10 year strategy · As supporters and developers of Children's Centres as partners in the Together for Children Consortium which is contracted by the DCSF to support local authorities to establish and develop Children's Centres · As deliverers of Sure Start Children's Centres - now delivering 24 4Children Children's Centres.
4Children is a national children's charity
2. 4Children is passionately committed to the goal of integrated provision for all children and young people 0-19 years through Children's Centres, extended schools and integrated youth provision. We believe in the need for a seamless 0-19 approach which is capable of:
· Recognising that families are not static and that their needs change over time;
· Supporting children, young people and families throughout childhood and through all important transitional stages;
· Providing early intervention and preventative support;
· providing intergenerational activities and support - reaching out to the broader extended family;
· Incorporating or drawing together wider services in an area.
· Grounded and owned within the community
3. 4Children's nationally acclaimed Carousel Children's Centre in Braintree is delivering an exemplar model with a seamless and integrated approach across disciplines for children from 0-19 years and their families. Our ambition is that all our Centres develop this approach over time to create a vibrant, community owned, hub capable of offering both universal and specialist support for all families in the area. We believe that this approach provides a valuable model for national development and replication. 4. Nationally, whilst most Centres are still in their infancy (the majority are less than 2 years old), evaluations are already showing improvements in parenting, improved development and social skills in children and increases in parental employment. A visit to any Centre will demonstrate the array of support on offer to families - often for the first time and certainly for the first time in an environment that is welcoming and non stigmatizing. 5. Whilst the parent may be encouraged into the Centre to weigh their baby or visit a toddler group, the door is then opened to much wider support - from housing to health, specialist support for their children to help with training. Trusted relationships and ongoing support are key and this is what parents tell us they value most. For some of the most chaotic families, the people at the Sure Start Centre will provide the consistency and support that they have never had. 6. This means that Sure Start ia able to facilitate early intervention, by enabling both parents and professionals to spot difficulties and deal with them as they develop and before they escalate. At a time of real concern over high thresholds for support, Sure Start gets in early, becomes part of life and part of the support network. 7. Whilst it may take a generation to show through fully in evaluations, the Sure Start approach is what parents say they need to truly change their lives. 8. In economic terms, the long term cost/benefit
analysis from programmes of this kind speak for themselves. In the face of public spending pressures this means that we must maintain
confidence in the programme and reject suggestions to cut Sure Start such as
those advocated by the recent 9. Indeed, in a time of financial restraint where a 'more for less' approach is needed, the Phase 3 Children's Centre model of bringing together existing pots of funding and services provides a model of modern public service delivery. Investing in this approach in the long run must be a priority. 10. It is wrong to suggest as some do that Sure Start has been taken over by the middle classes. It can only be positive to have children learning and developing together from a range of backgrounds. However, it is right to say that more needs to be done to reach out to the most disadvantaged families to get them involved. Opening the doors to the Sure Start scheme is just the beginning, making sure they maximise their potential is now their priority. 11. There are no quick fixes to the problems some families face but by investing in Sure Start, 4Children believes that we have put in place the foundations that can make it happen. We must now continue to invest whilst building the programme into the heart of a new early intervention and preventative approach. How models of Children's Centres have developed as the programme spreads from the most deprived neighbourhoods?
12. Children's Centres are increasingly well developed and awareness is high and growing, particularly in the deprived areas where the programme started. They are becoming as integral and accepted a part of local public services as schools and GPs surgeries and are viewed as a core part of the architecture by other services and professionals including social workers and health professionals. 13. Centres are developing in a highly diverse
way. This should not be a cause of concern. Parents should be entitled to expect a core
level of service from their Children's Centre wherever in 14. Addition to our exemplar Centre, 4Children delivers both Phase 2 and Phase 3 Centres. To achieve this we have developed a social business model which maximises the potential of existing services in an area in a flexible and creative way. The model is based around 5 key principles: · Early and continuing engagement across communities · Recognising and working with local diversity · Multi delivery sites, taking services to families, and raising expectations · Best use of existing resources - being imaginative · Building on existing local services, workforce and skills In this way, the Sure Start Centre is able to create a community hub - bringing together and adding value to local services at all times driven by the needs of the community.
The range and effectiveness of services provided by Children's Centres;
15. The wide range of services provided at or around a Sure Start Centre, delivered in a one stop shop approach is key to its success and is proving to be highly successful in reaching out to parents. These will include baby sessions, art classes, baby massage, twins groups, dads groups and many more. 16. However, 4Children believes there is enormous potential to extend the Children's Centre model beyond the early years. Early years support is crucial but it is not an inoculation for life and continued intervention and support is needed as the child grows up. 4Children is developing models to extend the support of the Children's Centre across the age range to provide ongoing, consistent and trusted support. 17. Our 0-19 approach: 4Children's Carousel Centre is a Phase 1 Centre developing an exemplar model for children across the age range. As well as providing a high quality 'core offer', Carousel has taken the concept a step further, now providing over 40 different services to children aged from 0-19 years. [See Appendix for further detail]. 18. 4Children has developed a 'cluster' approach to its Centres which enables it to deliver highly targeted services, in a cost effective way in the communities that need them most, including in isolated rural areas. This includes domestic violence support, drug and alcohol, CAMHS and special educational needs services, operating as part of a multi disciplinary team. 4Children believes that this approach should be explored in more detail with the potential for wider roll out. 19. 4Children works closely with health professionals including health visitors and midwives. For example Health Visitors now run regular health and advice sessions for Young People at our Centre with more specialist support for teenage parents. 20. We have been impressed with some of the midwife programmes that are in operation, in particular a pilot '24 hour' midwife scheme, based in our Children's Centre in South Leeds. Midwifes work alongside outreach workers to offer around the clock on call support for some of the most vulnerable parents at this crucial stage encouraging parents into the Children's Centre for further advice and support. Midwives report encouraging results reaching out to families who may have had no contact with services before. 21. In 2007 DCSF made working with fathers one of
five priorities for Phase 3 Children's Centres.
Centres are developing innovative approaches including opening at
weekends; dads-only groups; sporting and martial arts activities and trips for
fathers and kids to do together.
Research from the
Funding, sustainability and value for money; 22. The sustainability of funding for Children's Centres is crucial. 4Children believes that the key to the long term sustainability of Children's Centres is integration. Integration of funding streams across the Trust; recognizing the importance of the Centres and early intervention to education, crime prevention, health, regeneration, poverty reduction and community cohesion. And integration at neighbourhood level, bringing together a wide range of funded programmes and professionals around a central hub. 23. As Phase 3 is showing, whilst much can be achieved by utilising funding streams from the wider policy areas of health, education and crime prevention there will be a continued need for core resources for the 'hub' of the Centre (the manager, administration, accommodation and some outreach) to make this possible. 24. 4Children has developed a funding model based
around a 'cluster approach' that we believe provides sustainability,
flexibility and value for money. As Lead
body for 25. Unlike the Sure Start Local Programme centres which have benefited from high levels of funding from which they directly employ a multi-disciplinary team, our Phase 2 and Phase 3 Centres work with local partners particularly health to co-locate and deliver already funded services through the Children's Centre. In this way the Centre is able to maximise the potential of local services and add value to their effectiveness. As Centres become an increasingly accepted part of the service architecture locally, this can only grow. 26. Some Centres provide childcare and this can be challenging, especially in a difficult economic environment. 4Children is committed to the provision of childcare to provide vital support for parents to take up training and return to work. However occupancy can fluctuate (we are seeing increased demand for shorter, flexible sessions at the moment rather than full time places) which can mean income shortfalls. For local authorities who often struggle to respond quickly to local changes this can create a major problem. 27. 4Children believes a robust social business approach is required. Excellent business planning is key with clear targets for occupancy and controls on spending. Consistent scrutiny and review is essential as is a flexible approach to places. 28. Parents who are utilising Tax Credits are less likely to struggle with childcare costs. 4Children takes a proactive to view to ensuring parents are accessing any available funding to pay for childcare costs. Many of our nursery places are currently being funded by support from the Department for Work and Pensions for parents to undertake training to improve employment prospects. 29. Given the importance of sustainability issues, it should be a priority for all to Children's Centres (working with Local Authorities) to review their sustainability plans and consider a social business approach.
Staffing, governance, management and strategic planning; 30. High quality Children's Centre Managers are the key to a successful centre and 4Children has sought to recruit individuals with a broad range of skills in community and partnership development as well as being experts in working with children and families. Strategic development of the Centre with high level abilities to liaise and negotiate with others are key components of the job. 31. 4Children believes the key to effective governance for Children's Centres is parental participation and community involvement. We believe that Centres must be community based with a strong local connection, and importantly locally recruited staff. Professionals must be 'on tap not on top' so that the Centre supports the community to meet its own challenges. 32. We consistently use a range of participative interventions to ensure parents and families are involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of services at the Children's Centre. 33. With our informal groups we use a rapid appraisal tool as part of the on-going performance management of the centre. This allows us to guage an immediate response from parents participating in the activities. 34. Each of our centres has a focus or a management advisory group. We always encourage parents to be involved in this forum which in many of our centres has proven to be instrumental in identifying needs in the area. For example at Seesaw Children's Centre in Essex parental input at the focus group informed and led on the development of lifeskills training for parents. How well Children's Centres work with other partners and services, especially schools and health services;
35. To work effectively as a community hub, the Centre must develop excellent partnerships with local services. 36. Developing ways of working with health partners has been challenging and barriers remain in some areas. In areas where it is working having Health Visitors and Midwives delivering universal as well as targeted services from Children's Centres rather than GPs surgeries is linking services together to the benefit of parents and children. 37. Where multi disciplinary working is in place, Children's Centres are driving public service reform in their localities, creating change in the way individuals experience and receive their services. Children's Centres are beginning to make a reality of a 'whole family' approach, in which services support families as units rather than individually as adults and children. 38. One of the key relationships with any Children's Centre will be with its local schools, whether co-located or not. Children's Centres, working with schools and extended services, can make a reality of the concept of 'wrap around' services which have huge benefits to families. To achieve this, the Children's Centre must become a key and visible aspect of the school with the ability to reach out to the community beyond the school gates.
Whether services are being accessed by those most in need and how effective they are for the most vulnerable; 39. Engaging the most disadvantaged families is a
number one priority for Children's Centres
. Children's Centres are using
outreach to draw in harder to reach communities and partnership working with
universal health services is meaning that more of the neediest families are
coming through the doors of the Centres.
4Children Centres are helping some of the most isolated families
including those new to the 40. The 4Children outreach model delivers visits to all families in catchment area within 2 months; activities to raise community awareness; monitoring of service usage; specific work to target minority communities especially isolated groups. 41. Centres are becoming an important resource for parents with disabled children or those with special educational needs. They are providing early identification of special needs and disabilities and providing inclusive services which reduce isolation. In particular, the provision of speech and language therapy through Centres is proving to be an effective and cost effective early intervention. 42. In light of recent cases there is an emerging political consensus around the need for early intervention with vulnerable and damaged families. By using the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) Children's Centres are lowering the threshold for identification and support and providing a vital underpinning to what needs to be a fully integrated system. The development of E-CAF, by a consortium including 4Children and Logica, will develop this potential still further. 43. In 4Children's experience middle class domination of Children's Centres is a myth, indeed in some more affluent areas into which Phase 3 Centres are moving they are facing a perception problem from families that the Centre is not 'for them' because they are not deprived. 44. 4Children strongly resists calls to residualise or roll the service back so that it only serves the most disadvantaged. 4Children believes: · A mixed environment with children and parents from a range of backgrounds helps to drive aspiration and quality and reduces stigma. · Given the existence of pockets of deprivation in otherwise affluent areas, the Phase 3 roll out of Centres means that previously isolated families now have access to much needed services. 45. The postcode lottery that used to exist which meant that some families were excluded from utilising a Centre in their community was wrong and unhelpful. Conclusion 4Children would be delighted to provide further information to the Committee on any aspect of this submission October 2009 Appendix
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