Barnardo's calls for births to be registered at children's centres

Ninety per cent of Barnardo's 190 children's centres across England said the service would help them to promote their services and engage with more families.

Currently, birth registration is only offered as a service at children's centres in 20 local authorities across the country, the charity states in its report – Fullfilling Their Potential.

Offering birth registration would help support families that are often hard to engage, the report says.

“According to centres, it is often those that need support that do not generally come in,” it states.

The report adds that the move would also help protect children.

“Engaging with mothers most at risk of postnatal depression has an obvious advantage for safeguarding,” it states.

“In many communities, delivering this service will have huge benefits for local families, particularly more vulnerable ones."

Barnardo’s chief executive, Javed Khan, said: “In the first six weeks of a baby’s life, families need more support than ever.

"Registering babies’ births at their local children’s centres means parents can find out what’s on offer that can support them further."

David Simmonds, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said the move would be a "good way to get mums and dads through the door to introduce them to the wide variety of other services on offer to them".

"However, it is for individual councils and local residents to decide how their children’s centres are used, and we have to remember that registrars are employed by councils to register deaths and marriages too," he added.
 
“As they continue to respond to financial pressures, councils are working together to ensure services are delivered in the most effective and cost-efficient way possible. 

"There is no one-size-fits-all model, with nearly three quarters of children’s centres joined up and working together in clusters across England to ensure long-lasting benefits for families.”