Despite the expansion of services, professionals working with centres said that they struggle to bring the people through their doors who would benefit from services the most.
Panellist Diane Kilgour, extended schools co-ordinator at Colbayns Community Centre in Essex, said 'We've heard about all the good intentions, but in the real world those providing these services are exhausted and over-worked. We are having to deal with sometimes three generations of families who have always been unemployed and who are completely uninterested in engaging with local services. Problems associated with the behaviour of their children are accepted as something completely normal.'
The scope of the challenge was noted by keynote speaker Sheila Scales, director of Sure Start, Extended Schools and Childcare Group at the Department for Children, Schools and Families. She emphasised the importance of collaborative working as the key to success.
'We need enough of the right kind of services and a good outreach approach to secure maximum involvement,' she said. 'But professionals have to work together and tackle misconceptions about what information can be shared between them.'
Health professionals in the audience said they were often the last to be involved with children's centres. One delegate spoke up for midwives, saying that they felt excluded from programmes.
Delegates also pointed out that health visitors are of vital importance to the role of children's centres and called for something to be done about the fact so many are now leaving the profession.
