News Flash (25.02.2010)

A new study published by Demos (February, 2010) and executed by Sonia Sodha & Julia Margo states many a thing which has been been obvious if not known for a substantial amount of time. Summarizing the study, it states that risk factors for disengagement of young people from our society are primarily rooted within early childhood. Factors listed within this study are such as parental educational level, parenting style, economic status and parental aspiration. The study further identifies that national frameworks of providing prevention and early intervention too often consist of “short-term, ring-fenced grants rather than long-term funding”, that needs are not being picked up in time and that responsibilities are shifted from agency to agency with no clear cut accountabilities. However, what is truly amazing about this study is the fact that it acknowledges the need for health visitors and Sure Start children centres, but fails to mention the enormous amount of work contributed to early years prevention and intervention by the voluntary sector within the summery section of this report. If then, a think tank of the status such as Demos apparently fails to understand the picture on the ground, it may come as little surprise that the DCSF as well the local authorities have been following suite with the same misconceptions leaving the voluntary sector struggling to deliver front line work without near sufficient support. LHE