Policy and Politics
Early intervention 'is best to break cycles of deprivation'
Cycles of deprivation can be broken if children and families receive targeted, early intervention from the right services, says a new report by charity Action for Children.
Deprivation and risk: the case for early intervention shows that early interventions with very young children are likely to prove the most effective for long-term outcomes.
Action for Children chief executive Dame Clare Tickell said, 'The mounting evidence shows a clear case for early intervention as the solution to tackling deprivation. We must understand deprivation as the complex issue it is, and stop focusing on fiscal solutions alone, if we want to break intergenerational and deep-rooted deprivation.'
The charity is urging the coalition Government to invest in early intervention. It claims that so far, Governments have taken a simplistic approach to deprivation and concentrated on income alone, when the most vulnerable families experience complex deprivation made up of a range of severe needs and difficulties.
The report says, 'There needs to be a commitment to universal, full-time, high-quality, free nursery provision, with priority being given to rolling out these services in more remote rural areas and areas of high deprivation.
It says policy initiatives aimed at increasing parent literacy are needed to improve children's educational outcomes and parental engagement.'
Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, added, 'The problem hasn't mostly been that the wrong solutions have been adopted, but that the right ones have been applied inconsistently, partially, or without sustained investment, leaving practitioners frustrated and parents disenchanted.'
