Children born in Flying Start areas are significantly less likely to need interventions from social services by the time they reach the age of four or five

Children born in Flying Start areas are less likely to need interventions from social services by the time they reach the age of four or five.

The study, from academics at Cardiff University and the University of Bristol looked at more than 126,000 children born in 16 Welsh Local Authorities between 2012 – 2017.

Over 20 years, Flying Start, a Welsh Government scheme, has been providing services to all families with children under the age of four living in some of Wales’ most disadvantaged areas. These include additional free childcare, enhanced health visitor appointments and parent-and-baby groups. Its impact on outcomes for children’s services has not been studied in detail, until now.

Key findings show:

• Children born in Flying Start areas were 35% less likely to have Care and Support plans by age 4/5, than those living in almost equally disadvantaged areas. Mothers aged under 21 were 42% less likely to have a Care and Support Plan.
• Children born in Flying Start areas were over 40% less likely to become Children Looked After, but effects were strongest for children of younger mothers. Children whose mothers were aged 21 or under when they gave birth experienced approximately 65% lower rates of becoming looked after when born in Flying Start areas.
• The authors pre-registered their study design, enhancing transparency and strengthening confidence that these effects were caused by the provision of Flying Start.
• Academics did not find any positive or negative impact on the numbers of children on the Child Protection Register in Flying Start areas.

For the research, the team compared areas that only just qualified to be Flying Start areas, with those areas that just missed out on qualifying for Flying Start, meaning all areas in the study had comparable levels of deprivation.

Report lead author Dr Meng Le Zhang, based at CASCADE, the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre, said: “This is important evidence of a positive impact of neighbourhood-based, joined-up, holistic family support for young families. It comes at a time when the Welsh Government, in common with other UK governments, is considering how best to fulfil its childcare offer pledges alongside other early years’ provision.

“Many parents would rather receive services from parenting support that is open to all in a neighbourhood, than be referred and assessed for individual support, which some can find stigmatising.  Many of the Flying Start services are group-based, for example parenting classes, baby massage and breastfeeding groups, so parents get social support as well as individual support from experienced professionals.”

Co-author Professor Sally Holland, the former Children’s Commissioner for Wales who is also based at CASCADE, said: “Our research provides convincing evidence of a positive impact of Flying Start services. Reducing the number of children looked after is important in two ways. Firstly, it reduces the trauma of separation for children and parents, which can have long-term consequences. Secondly, services such as foster and residential care take up a large proportion of local authority social care budgets.

“This is money that could be better spent on prevention and support.”

For the study, academics looked at the likelihood of children receiving a formal Care and Support Plan from Children’s social services; this is known as becoming a Child in Need in England and Northern Ireland. They also looked at the likelihood of children being looked after, often known as being in care, as well as being registered on the Child Protection Register.

The results are similar to a study conducted for Northern Ireland about the Sure Start scheme. Undertaken by the same research team last year using very similar methodology, the results show children born in Northern Ireland’s Sure Start areas were less likely to be referred to social services and become a Child in Need. However, in Northern Ireland, no effect on children looked after was found.

To view the full Wales study, click here.