Progress toward more effective prevention of impairments to children’s health and development in England has enjoyed mixed fortunes since a Labour government took office in 1997. The optimism of the early years included flagship projects such as the Sure Start early years centers, and a commitment to end child poverty by 2020. 

Lately reconfigured as Children’s Centres, Sure Start will be available in every community in England by 2010. But evidence about their impact is variable and findings relating to child outcomes have been disappointing. Around 6000,000 children have been lifted out of poverty since 1998, but this is 250,000 behind target.

In recent years, more use has begun to be made of proven models, with the introduction of Nurse Family Partnership and support for a host of parenting programs such as Incredible Years. But England continues to lag behind the US when it comes to questions of fidelity of implementation and experimental evaluation of impact.

This week’s Michael Sieff Foundation conference this week attempts to revitalize the field. It starts with a review of the evidence on maternal health and well-being, attachment, pre- and post-natal brain development and the role of fathers. It includes contributions about proven models, including a presentation by Matt Sanders on his Triple-P program and by Kate Billingham, who is leading the implementation of Family Nurse Partnership, the UK adaptation of David Olds’s US model.

Political discussion includes a presentation by Iain Duncan Smith. The former leader of the Conservative Party now chairs the Social Justice Policy Group set up to study the causes and consequences of poverty in Britain and to seek practical ideas to empower the least well-off. [For more about Iain Duncan Smith’s work with Labour MP Graham Allen, see: Is early intervention printing the dream ticket?.]

Politics may also encroach on a presentation by Stephen Scott, Director of Research at the National Academy of Parenting Practitioners, which has been the subject of much political interference in recent months.

The conference ends with recommendations for elected officials and government policy makers.

•The Michael Sieff Foundation was born out of tragedy: the case of Jasmine Beckford, a four-year-old killed by her stepfather despite being in the care of the state. Lady Elizabeth Haslam established the Foundation in the name of her late husband to bring people together to find practical solutions to problems that threaten children’s lives.