How can we improve Children’s Centres?


by Paul Cotterill    
1:00 pm - September 29th 2010

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It’s top of the list of every Labour politician’s list of Labour achievements.

And so it was at the Labour fringe meeting dedicated to looking at the detail of childcare and early years development policy. Children’s Centres are good things, pure and simple, and they must be defended.

If I had been invited to speak at the love-in, though, I’d have said something different; I’d have broken the New Labour taboo.

For the reality of Children’s Centres, as they are really experienced by real people, can be very different from the picture painted by New Labour, and potentially by New Labour’s successors.

There are undoubtedly many Centres that have really worked well, and have met the needs of the middle class families AND have reached out to the so-called ’hard to reach’.

But there are also many that have not, and which have failed to deliver on their core task, and we need to face up to that fact, and explore why.

How can I be so sure of this when everyone else is going around telling us all Children’s Centres are wonderful?

Well, I’m sure not least because I personally wrote the bids which brought in the funding which set up an ‘alternative’ Children’s Centre, down the road from a ‘real’, well-funded Children’s Centre in my area, Skelmersdale in Lancashire.

The ‘real’ Children’s Centre is a place none of the people who needed it most went to, because they were not shown respect, and because they were treated as target fodder.

These same people now happily attend our place in a slightly crummy-looking annex to the Council Sports Hall (itself a converted factory), because we offer respect and work with families on the issues that face them rather than seeking to control them. We succeed because we do not stigmatize. The Children’s Centre staff now come to us for guidance, just 10 months after opening.

Here’s some of what what I wrote in the funding bids that brought us the money to set up our centre:

We will work with local families who are often defined by the statutory agencies with whom we work as ‘hard to reach’, though in fact this is not our experience; rather it is our experience that unable to reach out effectively to poorer and more isolated families, not least because many of these families feel ‘stigmatised’ by their association with such agencies.

Home-Start West Lancs has been established in the area for over 11 years during that time the organisation has worked with many ‘hard to reach’ families. Good relationships have been established, trust has been gained, and mutual respect has been earned.

It is our regrettable but inescapable experience – one which is a key driver for this project – that many families who would be regarded as ‘hard to reach’ by statutory agencies, principally those working through or in partnership with Sure Start and Children’s Centres, do not and will not engage with statutory services because they do not trust them. The necessary ‘form-filling’ associated with Children’s Centres is off-putting for many families living in difficult circumstances, and whatever the high quality of the ‘offer’ provided by Children’s Centres, many families do not feel they can engage with the whole process because they feel stigmatised (or have a perception that they would be in some way stigmatised).

On occasion, in this area of Skelmersdale, such perceptions have been reinforced by the actuality of persistent ‘chasing’ phone calls from well-meaning staff at the Children’s Centre, eager to ensure registration and attendance, partly with a view to meeting core ‘reach’ targets. Such methods are understandable, but the evidence we have from our work with families in the Digmoor area [of Skelmersdale] is that they can be and have been counter-productive.

Home-Start does want to ensure that those families who might benefit from the range of services available from or via the range of statutory agencies operating in the area. Indeed, success in this is set out as one of our key outcomes (see above). In order to achieve this, ‘hard to reach’ parents and families need to initial support, of the type we will offer, to enable them to build the confidence and coping skills and that are often needed to engage with services on a more equal basis.

Home-Start West Lancashire operates somewhat differently from other Home-Start schemes under the UK umbrella organisation. While most organisations focus primarily (and reflecting the name) in home-based work, with volunteers visiting and providing support to parents who are having difficulty coping in their home surroundings, Home-Start West Lancashire has responded to the needs expressed by families, living in the most deprived areas of West Lancashire, for more holistic support and solidarity alongside other families, set alongside the development of basic skills in parenting and householding (e.g. cooking nutritious food on a tight budget, budget and debt management, routes towards employment). For this reason, Home-Start West Lancashire has started to weight its resources to group development and facilitation, and this will be at the core this proposed new project.

Essentially, we believe that Home-Start West Lancashire does not just ‘talk a good game’ about empowerment, but that we do it. Our staff and current volunteers are local people, and genuinely empathise with the situation in which our target families find themselves.

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About the author
Paul Cotterill is a regular contributor, and blogs more regularly at Though Cowards Flinch, an established leftwing blog and emergent think-tank. He currently has fingers in more pies than he has fingers, including disability caselaw, childcare social enterprise, and cricket.
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Story Filed Under: Blog ,Education ,Feminism ,Labour party


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Reader comments


1. Tim Worstall

“For the reality of Children’s Centres, as they are really experienced by real people, can be very different from the picture painted by New Labour, and potentially by New Labour’s successors.”

Blinder. Govt run and govt supplied services are not quite as wonderful as govt tells us they are.

Film at 11!

Much more interestingly, you seem to have got this “Big Society” thing all sorted out. Well done.

2. Gonzalez-Medland

I can identify myself completely with this problem after reading this article. I used to organise and lead cooking on a budget courses on the Isle of Wight for 4-5 years, mainly at different Children centre’s settings.My approach was quite simple and honest: try not to stigmatize and pre judge in any shape of form the family and family background and eating habits. We are a family of 4 on a low income and 2 children under 10.The course was based on recipies on dishes that I cook for my family on a regular basis.The emphasis of the course was not to concentrate on performance and certainly not to show any preference for certain kind of foods nor how those have been sourced. Most of the families had issues related to food poverty,isolation and poor transport means to get their produce. I have knowledge of nutrition and healthy eating through my mother,a clinical nutritionist, who tought me from early age the advantages of a varied healthy diet.I tried to replicate this and offer a space for mums to have a good time, have a cup of tea and a laugh ,while cooking together and sharing a good lunch afterwards. Because I was part of the community, I could easily engage and relate to all problems parents on a low income on rural Isle of Wight face on a regular basis.

Then, problems with the Children and the council centre started to arise.The intention and benefits of my course were put into question, as I was not “qualified”
and soon other major issues started to take the toll on staff and the good running of the centre.I lost my job.The idea of cooking on a budget courses got replicated in other centres, this time,with professional chefs wearing white,contracted from County Council.I have heard comments that courses now are concentrated on performance and skills and mums feel they are learning….but not having fun.

Enthusiasm wears off quickly and most of them dont finish the course.

3. James from Durham

This certainly what we would all like to see the “Big Society” being about.

However, I noted the word “funding”. I imagine that this funding emerges from the state. Correct me if I am wrong. This is not what I fear the Big Society may be about, where the state cuts back on funding and where the whole thing is a way of saving money.

4. pagar

So we pay twice for the same service?

Have you considered the possibility that the “hard to reach” families might be hard to reach because they want both state agencies and assorted do-gooders to bugger off and leave them to get on with their lives?

5. elizabeth

Paul.

This sounds fantastic, I’m depressed by how pleased I am to hear about the chiildren’s centre you describe.

Offering the useful service that people want rather than what the providers think they need, is sadly radical at the moment. Such services are so often virtually imposed, the notions of respect and informed consent are rare, services can be driven by middle class notions of what parents “should” do.

6. Chaise Guevara

“However, I noted the word “funding”. I imagine that this funding emerges from the state. Correct me if I am wrong. This is not what I fear the Big Society may be about, where the state cuts back on funding and where the whole thing is a way of saving money.”

The Big Society, so far as I can tell, is Scotch mist. The idea is that instead of paying to improve society through taxes, people will suddenly rise up in the millions and volunteer to help themselves. What exactly is meant to motivate them to do this is unclear, and the fact that people would generally prefer to donate their money than their time to a good cause is roundly ignored.

Back to the OP: this sounds like an excellent idea, so more power to your elbow.


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    How can we improve Children's Centres? http://bit.ly/cQuwTk

  2. Don Paskini

    RT @libcon: How can we improve Children's Centres? http://bit.ly/cQuwTk

  3. Betty Holmes

    How can we improve Children's Centres? | Liberal Conspiracy http://bit.ly/ayIEPU





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