Advertorial: In Focus - Children and family centres at the heart of new community support

4Children has always argued for a continuum of community-based support for children and their families. From the call for 10,000 children's centres for 0 to 19s in our 2001 Childcare Commission report to our recent recommendation of the extension of children's centres into children and family centres, joined-up local support for children and their families as they grow up has always been a priority.

The concept is simple. Children and families benefit most if the support they get is joined up and takes a holistic approach. Children and families don't live their lives in compartments and evidence shows how multiple problems are interlinked and interconnected. Looking at problems in isolation and in a piecemeal way will therefore never be able to provide the solutions families need to flourish and will only ever be able tackle some of the symptoms of the problem rather than the root causes. Furthermore, while helping families when children are very young is crucial, the need for support for both children and their families continues into school age with particular risks of vulnerability around transition points such as the move to secondary school. Providing ongoing support for families as their children grow up rather than for a short intervention in the early years is essential if we are to tackle long-term issues and help prevent problems developing.