Rising unemployment, and growing substance misuse, neglect and mental health issues are leaving already vulnerable families at breaking point and frontline support services struggling to pick up the pieces, warns a new report by Action for Children.
The charity reports that the combination of more children, young people and their families needing urgent help, their problems becoming more serious, and substantial budget cuts to the services available in their communities, is making it increasingly difficult for those most in need to get any help.
Action for Children is calling for:
- Sufficient provision of local early intervention services for children, young people and families, introducing a new duty on local authorities and statutory partners to provide such services.
- Early intervention for children and young people must be planned, funded and implemented over the long-term, not as part of the three or four year spending review.
- The protection of the children's centre infrastructure. Any revision of the Sure Start Statutory Guidance must strengthen the legal protection of children's centres.
- Intensive family support services, including Family Intervention Projects, to be included within the range of evidence based interventions being promoted to Local Authorities by the Government.
