Surestart should be reistated for the good of the nation

@ghostyslovesheets thanks.
When my girl was a baby (2008) all our local ones didn't have the "Surestart" name but they did offer lots of services.
It definitely is a service that's needed - whatever they call it.

I was a parent on benefits in the sure start years. It was an absolute godsend and gave me volunteering opportunities with free childcare which led to full time work elsewhere.
The one I attended attracted a lot of vulnerable families and had a thriving group for teenage parents as well as an amazing baby sensory and other groups
i eventually ended up working in surestart and supported families at home and to attend activities etc. I saw first hand the difference it made.
i agree with more MH provision but let’s not forget our vulnerable teens are getting into their 20s now and will soon be parents- and will need extra support

As a severely depressed, mentally unstable single mum, Sure Start saved my life 11 years ago. DD is now thriving and I owe a good deal of this to Sure Start. I pity anyone without that post natal support.

I agree with this. The depressing curriculum, the results factory of GCSE's, the scrapheap if you cant memorise the (quite difficult to achieve and in many cases, irrelevant and useless) enormous volume of information you need to absorb to achieve a 4 in English and maths, the lack of vocational training routes, and now, the scrapping of Btecs, replacing them with T Levels but leaving a massive gap in L2 vocational qualifications. The 16-25 year olds who have poor mental health aren;t the ones with the apparently 'useless' degrees, they are the ones with no qualifications and no degrees, doing zero hours contracts with no prospects.

There's one about three miles from me, it's only available to people on benefits and for whom their children would be eligible for free school meals - isn't that an income of £6k?

They used to be everywhere and for anyone who needed them. Although some children's centres may still exist - it's a fraction of what was in place ten years ago. There were about five centre in my town, only one remains and it only offers a small amount of what used to be on offer.

Surestart was a fantastic programme. Our local Surestart hub did a lot of good locally and we used them on multiple occasions when we were exploring the possibility that DS (then aged 3) had autism. They got me a place on an excellent autism awareness course for parents, they ran communication courses for families of children with delayed language. They got me a family support worker to give me advice on how to deal with DS's sensory needs and frequent meltdowns. At this point we received virtually no support from NHS or LEA so Surestart was a lifeline for us. Those responsible for scrapping it removed a critical safety net for family of vulnerable children. I hope they are ashamed. (Although I doubt it.)

Surestart was a centrally funded government initiative and ran a wide range of services daily

children’s centres are run by local authorities tend to offer less and be open less or be nonexistent in some areas. The odd one or two might be run by charities

with local authorities budgets stretched to the point of not being able to meet statutory obligations many are closed or facing closure

Or they could offer a drop in service for people losing their minds with colicky babies during the witching hour. I'd go rock a crying baby for an hour now to give a parent the chance to have a cup of tea and put their head together. I'd actually love that.

When we run the country I'm sure we could nut something out 😁

@Desecratedcoconut That's true - if you no longer need those services you might not know exactly what's out there on offer.
I actually found it a bit of a waste that the Surestart centres were basically sat unused in the evenings and weekends.
Having a community centre that covers babies up to the oldies with all the different services in one place makes more economical sense to me.

It's not my life stage anymore so I'm on shakey ground getting into the nitty gritty. I expect that there are services around that can replicate pieces of that service in a fragmented and atomised manner but I think the strength of the sure start centres was in building a community around the activity of parental care.

Of course they should be reinstated. Investment in children and young families is vital - we are reaping so many negative results of the Tories failing to grasp this ..... No profit to be made?? - therefore not worth investing in.

I feel quite despairing at the morally bankrupt philosophies on which our government bases its actions. It makes me deeply sad.

Their investment in children and families takes the form of free (or is it?) child care so that parents can go out to work. The well-being of children and families is their last consideration.

@Desecratedcoconut that does sound bad.
Although just because there might not be a physical "Children's Centre" where you are, the services offered might still take place but just in a different building.
My daughter was born 2008 - some of the sessions we attended were LA funded but held in a community centre or church hall.
Our HV sessions were in a children's centre but it was a charity run one. The Health Visitors just used the room.
I did a parenting group a couple of years ago for parents of SEN children - LA funded but held in a community centre.
I hope there at least some of those type of services are available in your area 🙁

Considering so many parents don't seem to be capable of parenting I might be useful.

We do seem to live in a pretty pathetic society where so many are incapable of parenting and so much supported seems to be needed

We've got to stop allowing the government pitting vunerable groups against each other and convincing us that there's no other way to fund things.
I had to write a piece on the closing of surestart centers, Universal credit was at white paper stage. That's how I found MN. Without early intervention the rest falls apart. It's that simple.

Of course it should, but no one cares about the good of the nation, only their tiny bit of it and how much tax they pay. People seem to particularly object to anyone struggling getting some help, even if it does mean they/their children will be able to contribute more and cost less in the future.

Local authorities are slashing all funding across the board, even for the services they are legally bound to provide, let alone ones they don't have to provide, like childrens centres.

All the ones i can find in the nearest city to me are run by charities, so a postcode lottery really.

This thread really shows what is happening to this country.
*People believe the government can't afford this anymore and just accept that despite the fact that the government can fund lots of other much less important things.
*People are arguing over who deserves funding more young people or early years. People only seeing things from their perspective..I didn't need these/ our area has plenty.
There is no doubt that lots of people need help and support with parenting..surely we should work to an ideal that every community has a hub that could provide support for all children and families.. if properly funded this could change sooo much and save so much in the longer term.
We really need think bigger and get out of this negative spiral where it's just about ourselves and children are a lifestyle choice.

There's one about three miles from me, it's only available to people on benefits and for whom their children would be eligible for free school meals - isn't that an income of £6k? What do the ones around you look like?

That is not what the sure start centres were like at their peak, when my ds1 was born, in 2007. It was a service which was available and useful to everyone. It was for children. Not just children who meet a strict criteria. And that universal accessibility was the reason why it was successful, for all the reasons stated in this thread.

@Desecratedcoconut as I said upthread there are 4 in the medium size town where I am right now (visiting family).
1 seems to be local authority run (under a name of "Children's and Family Centre". The other 3 are private/charity funded.
Some local authority services (such as Health Visitor sessions) take place in the private centres though.
Oxfordshire in case you are interested.

It varies from borough to borough. Wandsworth, for example, was great when we lived them but some other boroughs are woeful in terms of what they offer families and children.

I don't know why affluent parents accessing the service is and was viewed as being necessarily a bad thing. There is more support from all sectors of society for services which are universally available. If the more well off parents were crowding out or intimidating those with greater need, then that could have been (and was in many cases) addressed in many ways. Invitation-only groups for instance.

Having services available regardless of background/income has a number of advantages, including reducing the stigma in accessing services, promoting parenting as being a collective endeavour and raising awareness amongst those who might otherwise be oblivious of deprivation and social issues, making them more likely to recognise and support the provision and funding of services going forward.

Oh well, if you are well served in London then everyone elsewhere must be greatly exaggerating.

@Desecratedcoconut I typed into Google "Children's Centres in Lambeth" (my borough) and the Lambeth website lists 18 of them.
(branded as "Better Start" Children's Centres - that name seems to be new).
That's just the local authority funded ones - there are private/charity run ones too.

Where are all these children centres? The surestart centres here were reconfigured into something entirely other to being anything useable by parents and children here.