Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) was a major strategic effort by New Labour towards ending child poverty. By changing the way services were delivered to children under four and their families, through targeting and empowering highly-deprived small geographic areas, SSLPs were intended to enhance child, family and community functioning. Following 5 years of systemic research exploring the efficacy and impact of this grand experiment, this book pulls together, in a single volume, the results of the extensive National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS). The book reviews the history of policies pertaining to child health and well being which preceded and set the stage for Sure Start. It provides insight into how SSLPs were expected to function and how they actually operated, both in terms of their strengths, weaknesses and costs. The contributors examine the nature of the communities in which these programmes were situated and how they changed over time; present the early effects of SSLPs on children and families, with evidence highlighting some small beneficial effects and some small deleterious ones and extract specific features of SSLPs that contributed to whether individual programmes benefited children and families, providing a guide for the revision of programmes and policies. With a foreword from Naomi Eisdenstadt, former Director of the Sure Start Programme and concluding chapter by Prof. Sir Michael Rutter, member of the government's scientific advisory board overseeing NESS, this book provides an insightful critique of SSLP policy and NESS that will be of interest to students of child development, families and communities, as well as policymakers and policy scholars, local and national providers of services to children and families and evaluation specialists.

An increasing number of families are becoming homeless, often as a result of domestic violence, which leaves women and their school age children without homes. This multidisciplinary volume is the first to look at the variety of problems encountered by this group and to propose strategies for managing those problems. The contributors to this book provide evidence that homeless children often have more acute problems and needs than other children; as a result of the insecurity of their situation, they may experience physical health problems and developmental delay. They are also at high risk of emotional and behavioral difficulties such as sleep disturbance, eating problems, aggression, over-activity, anxiety, depression and self-harm. At the same time, due to their unstable situation, they are less able to access support from the health, education and social services. Homeless Children is divided into two parts. Part I defines the specific problems and needs of homeless children, and draws up practical guidelines for staff and agencies on recognizing and dealing with those problems. Part II looks at policy and service development for homeless families in education, health and social care, and concludes that conventional methods of provision have to be adapted to meet the specific needs of this vulnerable group.