‘Fragmented and complex’ services for young children are leading to missed opportunities for families, according to a new report.
Getting it right for families, published by the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF,) argues services should be more integrated across the early years to reduce inefficiency and provide better help for families.
The report highlights the problems with health services such as sharing data of live births with children’s centres and a lack of shared understanding and vision across the early years’ workforce.
It calls for government to unblock information sharing and for a national figurehead to be appointed to develop plans for an integrated inspection framework.
Carey Oppenheim, chief executive of the EIF, said: ‘The early years are a key period in a child’s development. The fragmented way we organise services for children from conception to five means vital needs are missed and opportunities lost. By integrating services around the young child and the family we can provide the right level of expertise to the right families at the right time.”
‘We are pleased to see the strong encouragement from Government today for health and early years checks at age two to be integrated throughout the country. Bringing health and education perspectives together to create a rounded picture of child development at this crucial stage is vitally important.’
