Opinion: To the point - Evidencing families
I took up the new challenge at FPI because I'm passionate about improving families' lives. My vision for FPI is to promote the well-being of families, which is so intertwined with the well-being of society.
It's an exciting yet challenging time to join such a well-respected organisation. The political landscape is likely to change dramatically in the next year and the sector will be facing tough financial times. But it is essential that we continue to build on early years initiatives and avoid losing the expertise built up over the past ten years and which is starting to make a real difference to families.
We know from Sure Start children's centres the value of early intervention in children's lives. Last month, I visited a centre in a deprived part of Birmingham. It was offering childcare and learning through play. It was encouraging pregnant women and their partners to visit a midwife at the centre and then attend drop-ins after their baby's birth. A voluntary organisation, Malachi, funded through FPI's Parenting Fund, was counselling parents with problems at home. And other parents were coming in to study for GCSEs.
We will have to continue to make the case that such early years work is not an extravagance only affordable in the good times, but that it saves money in the long term by preventing problems before they escalate into crises. It takes hard evidence to prove this.
I hope that we at the FPI and you can gather this evidence together. For a decade, we have argued the case for parents' involvement in their children's earliest education and for the key role that nursery workers play in helping them do so. Now, as part of a Government research project, we are interviewing hundreds of parents and early years workers across the country to really look at what the effect is.
On Monday, 30 November, I will be giving my first keynote speech at FPI's tenth anniversary conference. I will set out my vision for families and parents in 2020. I hope that as we go forward I will be able to work with you on the front line to make sure that we keep on doing all we can to promote the well-being of families.
- Dr Katherine Rake OBE, last month started as chief executive of the Family and Parenting Institute.
