News

Universal access demanded for children's centre services

Parents want children's centre services to be available for all families, not just the disadvantaged, according to a survey by children's charity NCH.

The poll of 1,180 adults found that 85 per cent felt that parenting,education and healthcare services would be useful and 90 per centbelieved they should be available to all.

However, it also found people perceived there to be a stigma attached toparenting classes, with 61 per cent saying they could be put offattending for fear of being labelled a 'bad parent'.

For the research, part of NCH's Growing Strong campaign, (News, 28 June2007), focus groups met with 48 parents, including users and non-usersof children's centres.

NCH is calling for the Government to provide universal access tochildren's centre services. It says the Government should supportrolling reviews of service outcomes to help centres develop moreeffective programmes.

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