Surestart should be reistated for the good of the nation

The early years are so important, it's a travesty that Sure Start centres were closed. It was an amazing scheme, a lifeline for mums with PND and ours had appointments for parents who needed more support, all of that is gone now. Studies have shown that investing in the early years pays dividends in terms of health, life chances, crime. It saves more money elsewhere than it costs. Why aren't we investing in what is important?

Dbirk
Another unseen benefit was allowing different sections of society to interact with one another and find common ground. A non-sleeping baby is a non-sleeping baby no matter how much money you have or don't have. Those centres formed a community that went across societal lines that are rarely crossed in the UK and ALL the children benefited.
@Wavywoo

This really resonated with me, I still remember the feeling of walking in to a sure start centre with as a very overwhelmed new and young mum.. I felt so judged by everyone in my family and this lovely sure start worker made me a cup of tea and within a couple of hours I'd met people who although weren't young and single like me where still just as knackered and lonely. I'm still friends with some of those women 20 years later. Our paths would probably never have crossed without that group.
I think it's a real shame, they are a huge benefit to communities.

Surestart was the original government project aimed at areas of very high deprivation. It evolved into the children's centres, funded by the government but run by the local council, and the idea was every new parent would have one within pram pushing distance of their home. It's great that the original project has made a long-term impact, and such a shame that they were mostly closed.
We used to get child tax credits around that time too which stopped when the government changed the goal posts. I wonder if that helped too?

But they were criticised for that too. "People" felt they were being used by too many people who didn't really need them. I agree, that was their strength, or one of them.

Another unseen benefit was allowing different sections of society to interact with one another and find common ground. A non-sleeping baby is a non-sleeping baby no matter how much money you have or don't have. Those centres formed a community that went across societal lines that are rarely crossed in the UK and ALL the children benefited.

Sure start was a lifeline when my dc were babies/toddlers. Cheap/free activities only a short bus ride away. We really struggled with money then (still do actually) so having somewhere to go that the dc enjoyed and where I could meet other mum's was great. Also made me not feel guilty at not being able to afford things like baby sensory and things like that as the children's centre did their own version for £1 per family.

I do agree that the provision for teenagers, especially teenagers with mental health problems is horrific. And there is no support for parents of teenagers either.

@DramaLlamaBangBang Oh, I agree. I just think it's ironic that it seems to be possible to think the PoW is wonderful, but think that her supposed main focus is unnecessary.

The thing is, because she has to be politically neutral, all she can do is offer platitudes and give politicians an excuse to have photo opportunities with her and pretend they are doing something. She has apparently been working in this for 5 years. What tangible results has she come up with, apart from being photographed with little kids? It's counterproductive to have some Palace official dump her into something so important when what is needed is money, resources and commitment, not a Princess telling us something we already know.

It is important to recognise that Sure Start was substantially different from nursery provision, which cannot replace the valuable support that the centres offered to the whole family, as many posters have testified.

The aim of the government's children's provision is about getting parents back to work, and not about supporting families who are struggling with parenting, which is what is needed.

Yeah, again, doing a thing for a kid isn't the same as supporting a parent to do a thing for a kid. It's a different skill set with a more profound ability to improve the life of the child and a family.

Beside, the sure start workers weren't like local celebs riding a wave of respect and popularity.

More and more of the services that were offered by Sure Start have now moved onto nursery staff to provide - without the recognition as experienced professionals those in Sure Start centres used to get and despite all the extra training we've had to take to ensure the children in our care are getting their needs met. It's frustrating to have that aspect to be added onto a busy workload but it's also letting down families as they have nowhere to turn for support outside of this provision now.

I think the most significant thing about sure start for me, as a mum and an early years teacher, is that it recognised early childhood as a crucial part of our society and strove to equip new families with the skills, support networks and confidence to help their young children thrive.

For those particular children with poor mental health the posters above describe, there will be others whose mental health, physical health and lifelong outcomes are much, much better as a result of surestart.

Perhaps the model wasn't perfect but the spirit was there - investing your youngest members of society to enable a better future for all of us. It's every bit as important as health, defence and the economy.

It was an excellent scheme and discontinuing it a prime example of false economy. The money saved to the public purse by preventative measures like this is significant and proven. I'd be behind any campaign for reinstatement.

Family hubs are nowhere near as good as CC’s. Our CC became a ‘hub’ and is basically a reception area which hosts meetings and baby weigh ins or antenatal clinics. They do offer emergency support like food bank vouches but the receptionists have no knowledge of early years. Our CC had a team of helpful outreach workers who could meet with you to offer support and advice and usually one was around as a ‘drop in’.
Aldo, the workers who operate from hubs serve only the most need families. So those who need early help support who get home visits. There not a service for all families- no groups or drop ins etc
Famiky hubs are very different and sadly very lacking

Society most definitely has not moved on.
Just because other areas need investment, such as mental health care, that doesn't mean we can neglect younger children and their parents either. Many children are still growing up in poverty, whether their parents work or not.

There's some cognitive dissonance that a site where the Princess of Wales is generally held in high regard is so dismissive of one of her particular causes-the importance of Early Years intervention.....

Just reading the comments, like I said a few comments ago I used Sure Start a lot 20 years ago and had zero idea it was aimed at a certain group (poor/young parents?)
The group I went to was very diverse/middle class/poor mixed age group. This was Sputh London.

I would definitely support this
Ok some people who need it won’t use it and some sharp elbowed middle class mums will but overall I believe that they did a lot of good

Yes it should be reinstated, I was talking about this yesterday to a woman i met at a sure start baby group over 20 years ago.. she was 44 and a first mum, I was 21 but that group was a godsend a couple of mornings a week.
I literally felt like I was going insane with tiredness and colic and loneliness and so did she!
I don't know about the rest of the country but in my town they've shut down the children's library (another godsend) and the community centre that used to run toddler groups also gone.
A friend of mine who works as a reception teacher also believes these services are very important to early years and she's seeing an impact on children when they start school.
The nursery hours for two/three year olds were obviously very helpful and meant I could go back to work but sure start helped me a lot through the baby years.

We all hear so many stories of children starting school in nappies (no ND reason), unable to hold cutlery, not brushing teeth etc etc. It can be argued that these are life skills that should be taught by parents and yes I agree. However not everybody has been taught these things or are able to. These are the parents that Sure start centres should first and foremost be reaching out to. I agree with the centres wholeheartedly but there has to be a way of reaching out to people that are unwilling or unable to access for various reasons. I've seen lots of comments about MC people accessing the services for a freebie, yes you'll probably always get people doing that. However that one parent out of a group of 20 may be middle class but is struggling with MH or their child isn't feeding well enough. Blocking access off based on income would cause struggles in other areas for those women who don't fall into a WC or unemployed background. I also don't think SS should stop at 5 either, I'm not sure where the cut off would lie. However these places can be utilised by having spaces for teens, job seekers and financial matters.

@Wavywoo fingers crossed indeed that it does well - and the people that need to use it are made aware and actually do use it 🙂

You honestly see no link here?
It's about prevention.
Think about it.