NCJ Number
217744
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2007 Pages: 17-31
Date Published
January 2007
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated England's Sure Start local programs (SSLPs), which have been established in some of the poorest communities in England in order to integrate services designed to improve the health, well-being, and life chances of families and children before and from birth.
Abstract
Although it was expected that the SSLPs would reduce the number of children who required more intensive support from children's social services and, by implication, the number of children on the child protection register, the evaluation found no short-term effects on the number of referrals or on child protection registrations. This suggests that the comprehensive, integrated approach to prevention under SSLPs may be ineffective in reducing the need for intensive support for "at-risk" families. On the other hand, interview data showed broad agreement on the potential impact of SSLP prevention work. Many respondents reported that it was too early to draw conclusions about the long-term impact of SSLPs. The evaluation examined the impact of SSLPs on four local authorities with social service responsibilities in northeast England. The researchers analyzed routinely collected statistical data on over 10,000 referrals of children under 4 years old and approximately 1,600 child protection registrations in an 8-year period before and after the introduction of 19 SSLPs. The evaluation also analyzed interviews with 36 key informants in 8 SSLP areas. 1 table, 2 figures, and 25 references