Responding to inner-city blues
	In the United States, the Head Start programme, which has been running for 40 years and funded by federal government at a cost of some $6.8 billion (for 2005), targets low-income families, with the goal of increasing school readiness of young children (0-5 years). While the programme claims to be successful, recent OECD figures suggest that many low-income families are still falling through the net. Only 45 per cent of children from 3 - 5 years from low-income families are enrolled in pre-school, compared to 75 per cent among high-income families

	Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has also introduced its own Sure Start programme to provide greater choice for parents in how they balance their work commitments and family life through easy access to children’s centres. This currently includes 12.5 weeks of free child care for 33 weeks a year for all 3- and 4-year-olds who need it, aiming to increase this next year. Cathy Urwin, an infant psychotherapist working in a deprived area of London, explains that “in terms of language development, physical health, dental health and behavioural problems, children in impoverished areas are much worse off than the rest of the population. There is evidence that, in some areas, the Sure Start centres have already made quite a lot of difference.” From the outset, Sure Start has involved parents in planning, at every step. But there are huge differences between areas. “In the Tower Hamlets district where I work, there is a large Vietnamese and Chinese population, and that group is very different to work with compared to a Bangladeshi group, for example,” says, Urwin. “You have to find ways of working with the communities.” Sure Start is now creating children’s centres where resources such as a speech therapist and a psychologist are brought together around nursery schools.
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