EARLY INTERVENTION IN NOTTINGHAM

1
EARLY INTERVENTION IN NOTTINGHAM

• Graham Allen
• Independent Chair of One Nottingham
• The Local Strategic Partnership

2
Early Intervention in Nottingham

• When kids arrive at my Primary unable to talk
  properly, mix, or can only work out differences
  with violence, we are already requiring remedial
  investment Nottingham Primary teacher
• I want youngsters to come into my business not
  just with the right qualifications but with the
  personal abilities to make a real contribution
  and commitment to my team and the skills to
  connect with my customers Nottingham
  businesswoman
• They frighten me, these kids, we werent angels
  but we rubbed along. This lot are like animals,
  no respect for anyone or anything Nottingham
  pensioner
• Like most public services we are here to pick up
  the pieces after things have gone wrong way back
  in peoples lives Nottingham police officer
• I just want the best for my child Nottingham
  single mum

3
(No Transcript)
4
Use It or Lose It
The more a neural system is activated, the more
that system changes to reflect that pattern of
activation This is the basis for development,
memory and learning
5
Stimulus e.g. Parents speech and Child Vocabulary
6
Pathways often laid down by age 3 e.g. crime

• Dunedin study
• At risk group offences much more serious
• (e.g. robbery, rape, homicide)
• Fewer females conduct disordered, but for those
  who were
• 30 of at risk group had teenage births (vs.
  0)
• 43 were in violent, abusive relationships

Immature mothers, with no strong parenting
skills and violent partners have already borne
the next generation of at risk children
7
The best time to influence the character of a
child is 100 years before they are born. W.R.
Inge
8
(No Transcript)
9
We live in a child-illiterate society

• We have lost our efficient mechanisms for
  trans-generational passage of child-rearing
  beliefs and practices.

10
Decrease in the Size of Households Privacy and
Isolation
11
Neglecting Our Greatest Biological Gifts

• The power of relationships
• The brains malleability in early childhood

12
Healthy Nottingham

• Economic stability
• Cultural wealth active arts,
• Tolerant and respectful of diversity
• Safe
• Opportunity for enrichment
• Literate, invested in education
• Supportive of young children and families

13
(No Transcript)
14
What to do about violence

• We have the level of criminal violence we do not
  because we do not know what to do, but because
  we have decided the benefits of changing arent
  worth the costs.
• Elliott Currie, 1985
• For it is really quite clear that we can prevent
  violence, and it is also clear how we can do so,
  if we want to
• James Gilligan, 1996

15
Keys Attunement and Empathy

• Empathy the single greatest inhibitor of
  propensity to violence
• Established early by observation of parental
  reaction
• Babies show empathy by one year old. Not all
  develop this
• All rapport, the root of caring, stems from the
  capacity for empathy
• Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence

16
Recent Developments in Neuroscience
17
www.ChildTraumaAcademy.org
18
Early Prevention saves public money

• US Head Start benefits 2.50-10 per 1 invested
• Intensive home visiting paid back in 4 years,
  next 11 years all gain. Prof David Olds Denver,
  originator of Nurse Family Partnerships.
• All parties are getting it. Iain Duncan Smith
  MP In the United States they have found for
  every dollar invested in the first three years of
  a childs life, there is up to a seventeen fold
  return
• If we can use the reading results of 8 year olds
  to build jails we can also use them to plan early
  intervention. Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking in
  Nottingham on 4th August 2007.

19
Implication for optimum investment
20
Pattern of public spending on education in
England Wales over the life cycle, 2002/2003
21
Recommendations Personal measures

• Every child should be enabled to be school
  ready at 4 or 5
• No child should leave school without training in
  non-violent parenting and attunement with
  babies, i.e. Be Life Ready
• At first pregnancy, every parent to receive
  supportive coaching on successful emotional
  development of child i.e. Be Child Ready
• Babies in at risk families monitored in first 3
  years, with family support from regular health
  visitors

22
Recommendations National policy

• Government should rebalance resources from the
  massive costs of failure to the modest costs of
  early intervention. Financial instruments are
  being devised to use future savings to invest now
• Nottingham as large-scale test area Early
  Intervention City
• National agency to assess and hallmark best
  policies

23
THE EARLY INTERVENTION PACKAGE

• The aim of the Early Intervention package is to
  tackle deprivation by breaking intergenerational
  underachievement enabling every child to be
  school ready, work ready, life ready, and child
  ready.
• This is done by supplying early interventions to
  ensure the pre-requisite personal and social
  skills are in place at each stage.
• This is more effective and low cost than paying
  massive financial and social costs later and
  only ever partially successful remedial action.
  
• There is strong political support for this
  concept at national and local level, including
  Nottingham being Early Intervention City.
• Officials and officers are now working to propose
  a series of practical interventions that can be
  endorsed across the Partnership.
• A 20 YEAR CRIME PREVENTION
  PROGRAMME.

24
(No Transcript)
25
Ten steps in ten years

• 1.  Mother Care Pregnancy Centres as in Sweden,
  systematic pre-natal help, plus begin
  identification and tracking of families and
  individuals who needs early intervention
• and/or
• Intensive health visiting support to young
  mums from conception to 2 years old to Nottm
  specifications
• and/or
•  The Sunderland (Nottingham?) Infant
  programme for 0-3 months, mums and babies
  videoed and coached to get best attunement and
  interaction Per Svenson
• 2.  Sure Start existing well established
  pre-school family intervention
• 3.  Roots of Empathy empathy reduces crime,
  especially violent crime. Here, a couple let a
  class adopt their baby
• 4.  SEAL existing primary school Social and
  Emotional Aspects of Learning, teaches social
  skills to enable personal and academic growth
• Incredible Years comprises three linked
  programmes for children, teachers, and parents,
  preventing and treating behavioural conduct
  problems among children aged 2-8 years and
  increasing their social competence
• (continues)

26

• and/ or
• Triple P (Positive Parenting Programme) widely
  used Australian system that aims to provide
  guidance for parents of primary school age
  children on parenting skills in order to promote
  good behavioural and emotional adjustment.
• 6.  Mentoring no widespread program yet, but
  could especially involve male role models for
  young boys. Big Brothers/Sisters has a 100 year
  track record in the US
• 7.  Witnessing Domestic Violence early
  intervention to prevent trauma and long standing
  impacts
• 8.  Secondary SEAL Pre-parenting skills. To
  extend emotional literacy in teenagers to an
  understanding of -developing and sustaining
  relationships in current and future families, to
  prevent family breakdown, understanding what it
  means to have children, and be able to thrive in
  social and work situations.
• and/or
• Teens and Toddlers 20 weeks, one to one
  contact between each teenager and a small child
  who they mentor
• 9.Parenting Skills how to make choices about
  having children how to raise a fully capable
  child
• 10.First Steps in Parenting conception onwards
  program, starts in pregnancy and tackles
  emotional issues which will arise in new families
  Mel Parr

27
What next for us?

• A serious and open dialogue is taking place
  across the partnership and reports will go to the
  CYP Partnership and then to the One Nottingham
  Board.Edwina Grant, Chief Officer of the Children
  and Young Peoples Partnership, is the accountable
  officer within the One Nottingham structure,
  responsible locally for synthesising a draft
  policy paper.
• National support comes from the Joint
  Local/National Steering Group on Early
  Intervention in Nottingham made up of local
  partnership officers and national departments
  officials. It met in August 2007.
• On October 5th Local Partners brainstorm to
  recommend to One Nottingham and Ministers a
  package, arrange initial funding with One
  Nottingham, and local and national mainstream
  funding thereafter.
• Measures will need to be rigorously assessed and
  filtered (for cost, evidence base, local
  applicability and duplication of existing
  programmes) In time this should be done by a UK
  National Assessment body, comparable to the
  Centre for the Study and Prevention of Violence
  at the University of Colorado.

28

• What next for you?