It is of course welcome that the early years are getting so much attention — but we would be fooling ourselves if we thought that a positive start in the early years was an inoculation for life. Research shows that while early gains continue into school years they begin to dissipate if there isn't further support, with particular risk points at the ages of eight and 10 and through transition into secondary school.
Much is known about the risk factors and indicators of risk for children during this stage.
Children are particularly likely to be vulnerable if their parents have a history of antisocial behaviour or involvement in crime. Large family size, poor parental supervision and disrupted families are also potential factors. We also know that problems don't manifest themselves overnight. Many issues around conduct and aggression begin to emerge between the ages of seven and 13 and escalate over time. That's why it is so important that early identification of need does not stop when children start school.
But we also know much about the protective factors that will prevent children from developing risky and negative behaviour: confidence and self-esteem, close bonds with family, positive friendship groups, positive adult role models, and authoritative, warm and consistent parenting. Anyone with an involvement with young people should make it a priority to ensure that these protective factors are developed throughout childhood. That's why early intervention for older children must be recognised as a key aspect of the early intervention debate and why early intervention must in itself be a key strand of the government's forthcoming youth policy.
As in many areas, there is much that can be learned from the early years experience. For early years practitioners, early intervention is now at the heart of both policy and practice, demanding collaborations with social care and health. The potential for those who provide support for young people to collaborate in this way is one that we shouldn't miss.
And there is much to build on. Despite its limitations, the new early intervention grant offers local authorities the opportunity to devise long-term strategies to develop early intervention across childhood and many are responding with creative, new ways to bring services together into a joined-up approach. Our experience running Sure Start children's centres and Myplace youth centres has convinced us that it is community-based facilities such as these that are ideally placed to open up opportunities for children and young people, while also offering the targeted early intervention and preventative support that we know is so needed. It is vital that we ensure these services are joined up across the age range.
But our Family Commission survey published last year, carried out among 10,000 families, also supports the view that parents need significant help in supporting their children as they get older. Parents often told us how they were unprepared for the onslaught of the teenage years and the transformation of their relatively content primary school-aged children into uncertain teenagers. Sadly, the majority were left to struggle through, sometimes with disastrous consequences. But for the few who were able to find parenting courses, the benefits of finding support, learning to listen, developing empathy and setting boundaries were crucial in offering their children the support and guidance they needed.
As national and local decision makers develop their policies in this area, a new, integrated approach — across the age range and between youth and family policy - has much to offer. Research tells us that the most troubled young people would benefit as a result.
Anne Longfield is chief executive of 4Children
