Yet Another Government Failure

[lancsdave]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

[accymel]

Why didnt that surprise me !! Sure Start are an absolute waste of time & reluctant to help people they are supposed to help, our Gingerbread group tried to get some support thro sure start & they DIDN'T want to know at all - they are relectant to get involved within groups that sure start was designed to target & help, they have a centre up here which has recieved bad reports on the cafe there, attitudes of people there & only interested in a small sector of support in the area.

[jedimaster]

have'nt had much to do with sure start up here but when we were living in bath we joined the surestart scheme
i must admit the only thing we used was a local creche/playgroup set up by them but i have to say we were very impressed.
sessions were limited per child so as to accommodate more children
the staff were excellent and it gave sam a few hours of well earned rest during the early toddler years while i was working all the hours god sent

i also know that bath surestart helped to provide much needed equipment for local schools nurseries and also help for parents in the local area.

maybe this was just a one off case as i say i haven't had any dealings with them up here so i don't know what the situation is.

[mrskitty]

I praise Surestart 100%-they helped me when i needed it and for that i will be eternally grateful.Sounds OTT but when i was seriously ill (i couldn't move)after having Jack Surestart were the only people that were willing to help me.
Although after getting back in touch with them 2 weeks ago i know things are going tits up for them-that artical high lighting the problem.
There are no proper play groups or such like in the beeches centre near me and Accymel because funding ran out-last april
if parents want something there then were gona have to organise ourselves and run it ourselves.
yea sure-everyone is up for it when its an idea but when it comes to the crunch people just constantly back out for minor reasons.Its hard work getting a group together.
I feel so sorry for the staff that spent time and effort sorting things out such a bounce and rhyme classes-just to find 2 people turned up.its was so sad to see.
I hope things get sorted for them and that the financial side of things gets sorted-these pen pushers who allocate thousands of pounds to the 'wrong' things get on my nerves.

[Gayle]

I've just had a look on SureStart's website and it's supposed to be a 10 year plan of which they're only 4 years in - should it be judged at this stage on its successes or failures?

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/

I haven't had a lot of dealing with Sure Start other than I was employed in a freelance capacity to launch the centre in Church. When I said that it was an excellent facility and that I would have to bring my children there I was told that I couldn't because I live outside the catchment area. I have to admit that was quite disappointing but it certainly seemed like a good facility for the people that were allowed to use it. Has it been maintained well?

[lettie]

This article doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Surestart was launched in 1998 and has been active in Hyndburn since at least 2000, maybe even 1999. Some of the services have started to be withdrawn from Surestart now because they are coming to the end of their 10 year term. The midwifery service has been reduced in the last 18months, instead of 2 full time midwives in this area, we now have 1 who does some part time work for them.

Surestart paperwork and red tape meant that they were unable to help poor familes who lived outside of their list of post codes. If your post code is not on our list......you're not coming in mentality. This is yet another failed government social experiment with many of the poorest families missing out on the help.

Another issue was that the families who were entitled to the help couldn't care less... They aren't the kind of women who will go to parenting classes, take toddlers to groups, aquanatal, pamper evenings etc. All these women want is to claim as much money as possible and be left to their own devices. Many of the parenting and aquanatal classes in this area were way under subscribed. I taught aqua for Surestart, it was at the Sports Centre and was free. There were adverts at every GP surgery in the area and we used to directly target the women who lived within the Ss remit. We would be lucky to get 2 or 3 attending each week. The women who were interested in coming often lived outside of the Ss remit, were working and not entitled to Ss benefit, therefore, Ss said that they couldn't come.

Imagine the waste of money, sending 3 midwives on a very expensive 2 day aqua training course, hiring the Sports centre pool for an hour every week, buying equipment and music tapes, entertainment license (yes, we had to have a license).... all for 2 or 3 women a week!!!! They could have let everyone come and charged those outside of the area £1 a week and got some of their money back, but stupidy, they just said no....

This is yet another failed initiative aimed at cutting the child health and poverty crisis with the long term aim of cutting anti social behaviour and improving education. Throwing money at these problems has never worked and never will work.. it is time for zero tolerance.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by lettie

it is time for zero tolerance.

Zero tolerance about what lettie?

[lettie]

Zero tolerance about a lot of things Neil. Throwing money away in social experiments in order to improve anti social behaviour, child health and education is not the answer. The families of these children need to be made accountable for their behaviour by imprisonment if needs be.

This country needs to stop throwing money at people who won't work, take drugs, excessive alcohol and generally expect everything for nothing.. No bloody wonder their kids grow up as nuisances. I have worked with a lot of these families who think nothing of effing at their kids in every other sentence. Mothers who would have their kids plonked in front of a DVD whilst they are drinking their benefits away in the kitchen with their mates. Families who don't care where their kids are and what they are vandalising just as long as they are not under their feet etc.. We all see families like this every day.

If I was PM for a day I would:-

1) Put a stop to money wasting schemes like Ss.

2) Able bodied people, who are physically and mentally able to work would be given community service jobs in return for benefits. These jobs would include :- removing graffitti from public places, picking up litter and dog poo, mowing grass verges and cleaning public parks, helping out with the elderly by shopping and cleaning for them etc. Anybody failing to put in the hours would receive reduced benefit or alternatively, they can go and find a proper paid job.

3) Anybody claiming to be unable to work would face exhaustive medical tests in the absence of a Consultant's report, a GP long term sick note would not do (many GPs give sick notes because they feel threatened).

4) Impose heavy fines to parents for their children's truancy, failure to pay would result in imprisonment.

5) Children over the age of 13 would be named in newspapers and subject to imprisonment for their crimes/antisocial behaviour.

6) Any girl under the age of 16 who becomes pregnant will be entitled to nothing. Her parents and his parents must support her (mandatory DNA testing which would be paid for by the girl's family would sort this out), or she puts the child up for adoption. She will get no benefits until she has left full time education and worked for at least 2 years... I know that this is hard and people would object, but I reckon that the teenage pregnancy rate would be halved within 2 years..

7) Build loads of new prisons with the money saved from scrapping Ss..

There are no easy answers to the issues of poverty, antisocial behaviour, childhood health problems etc..

If our Accyweb members were PM for a day..... what would you change??

[Ianto.W.]

lettie, If our Accyweb members were PM for a day..... what would you change??

Put you in charge and leave you there lettie.

[lettie]

Originally Posted by Ianto.W.

Put you in charge and leave you there lettie.

Lol... I wouldn't want to be the next PM. Fancy having to clean up after this lot. I know that my changes seem draconian but for all of their wasted billions to tackle child poverty, obesity, antisocial behaviour, juvenille gun and knife crime etc, the UK has still been found the worst place for kids to grow up.

That report was not published by right wingers with an axe to grind but by the UN. It speaks volumes that all of these government initiatives which chuck money at the problem do not work. The UN found that stable family, 2 parent settings are the best conditions for child welfare so when is our government going to stop rewarding teenagers for getting pregnant and being single parents and start rewarding the stable family unit...

[accymel]

Originally Posted by lettie

The UN found that stable family, 2 parent settings are the best conditions for child welfare so when is our government going to stop rewarding teenagers for getting pregnant and being single parents and start rewarding the stable family unit...

Im quite surprised at u lettie to insinuate that single parents are rewarded - where???????? cos i missed out then!!! The amount of times a single parent is condemned on the basis of a steroetype is unbeleiveable - i'd be rich for every pound someone make a quote like yours!!

U cannot tar all single parents with one brush - i did the 2 point 4 kids lifestyle, i've been married - it failed, & tbh my kids would be in a whole lot worse situation if it stayed that way also!! Do u know how hard it is & have u been one long enough?? Im on 8 years already but thats sods law of life & im a bloody good parent as best i can be!! There is a whole many more kids in 2 families that suffer in some cases more than the single parent one. While a very small preportion of parents chose single parent life, very vast majority end up in the situation from no choice of their own. relationships fail, death, work etc.

[lettie]

Originally Posted by accymel

Im quite surprised at u lettie to insinuate that single parents are rewarded - where???????? cos i missed out then!!! The amount of times a single parent is condemned on the basis of a steroetype is unbeleiveable - i'd be rich for every pound someone make a quote like yours!!

U cannot tar all single parents with one brush - i did the 2 point 4 kids lifestyle, i've been married - it failed, & tbh my kids would be in a whole lot worse situation if it stayed that way also!! Do u know how hard it is & have u been one long enough?? Im on 8 years already but thats sods law of life & im a bloody good parent as best i can be!! There is a whole many more kids in 2 families that suffer in some cases more than the single parent one. While a very small preportion of parents chose single parent life, very vast majority end up in the situation from no choice of their own. relationships fail, death, work etc.

Hehehe... Read the post. It is not implying that single parents are being rewarded but teenagers thinking that pregnancy and single parenthood are a career choice. Maybe I should have elaborated more but as my previous post also states that the father's family should be made to support the mother, I thought that this would be clear.

BTW, my mother was also a single parent, not by choice, but my parents made a damned fine job of bringing us up. We saw my dad every day, he contributed weekly to our family finances, took us on holidays and out at weekends. Just because my parents divorced does not mean that we weren't in a stable family unit. It is high time that absent fathers were made to pay and not through the pathetic CSA system where a lot of mothers do not see the money, but by DD straight from the father's wage or benefit into the mother's bank account. this would be relatively straighforward, involve less red tape and paperwork and DNA testing would be mandatory.

Like my earlier post said...... Draconian measures, but the softly softly method is clearly not working. What would you do???

[Gayle]

No you can't tar all single parents with the same brush - some make fantastic parents. My own mother in law brought up two boys on her own and they've turned out damn fine.

But the point is that there are some areas of the country where opting to be a young single mother is seen as a way out. They don't feel they have any chance of doing anything other than being a mum, claiming benefit and getting a house on the back of it.

[accymel]

Originally Posted by lettie

Hehehe... Read the post. It is not implying that single parents are being rewarded but teenagers thinking that pregnancy and single parenthood are a career choice. Maybe I should have elaborated more but as my previous post also states that the father's family should be made to support the mother, I thought that this would be clear.

BTW, my mother was also a single parent, not by choice, but my parents made a damned fine job of bringing us up. We saw my dad every day, he contributed weekly to our family finances, took us on holidays and out at weekends. Just because my parents divorced does not mean that we weren't in a stable family unit. It is high time that absent fathers were made to pay and not through the pathetic CSA system where a lot of mothers do not see the money, but by DD straight from the father's wage or benefit into the mother's bank account. this would be relatively straighforward, involve less red tape and paperwork and DNA testing would be mandatory.

Like my earlier post said...... Draconian measures, but the softly softly method is clearly not working. What would you do???

Phew Yeh there is definately should do something about absent parents the system stinks!! I would certainly make absent parents responsible for their actions becuase the lay of the blame is on those that actually take responsiblity & not those that do nothing, like my x whom i get no contribution in any sence.

[accymel]

Originally Posted by Gayle

But the point is that there are some areas of the country where opting to be a young single mother is seen as a way out. They don't feel they have any chance of doing anything other than being a mum, claiming benefit and getting a house on the back of it.

Yeh true point but there was a time where a young person couldnt get income support or house under 18yrs except for real special circumstances involving coming out of care, disability.