Children and family psychologist Michael Galbraith, who is based at Sure Start West Everton and Breckfield in Liverpool, said he'd been able to reach people who may not have accessed his specialist help by more "traditional" routes.
But he feared strong links with the community and a powerful sense of community ownership could be lost in the rollout of children's centres.
Galbraith, who has written a paper outlining his concerns, said many fellow professionals were "pessimistic" about the future and identified a gap between the role and aims of Sure Start and what is expected of children's centres.
"From what I have seen of the guidance, it is talking about co-location of services but only a relatively small number of services are part of the core offer of children's centres. There is a childcare and education focus that is quite different from the Sure Start agenda."
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