Early years practitioners are central to UK government policy in alleviating poverty in early childhood. The significant level and rise in child poverty rates suggest that their role is becoming increasingly important in supporting families on low incomes. Paradoxically, cuts to children's services under austerity policies and the low pay and…

The number of children in poverty looks set to rise and the gap in outcomes between the most disadvantaged children and their peers is likely to widen. Many families will face challenges of poverty, ill health, bereavement and unemployment, with knock-on effects for children's health and wellbeing. There are fears that children will miss out on…

The benefits of early childhood education are well known, but access to quality programs is a challenge for children living in marginalized communities. Mobile Creches (MC), a non-profit nongovernmental organization based in Delhi, India, pursues the mission to ensure all young children, especially the most vulnerable children, have access to the…

Malnutrition and a lack of sufficient psychosocial support from caregivers both have a tremendous effect on children's development. Initiatives to support healthy child development in a context of poverty include caregiver interventions. There is growing evidence to support interventions that integrate psychosocial and nutritional support. The…

Background: Existing evidence suggests a relationship between family social contexts, family relationships and interactions, children's social and cognitive development and educational outcomes. Interventions that assist families in relation to parenting and supporting children's development can have positive effects on both parents' skills and…

In this review article, the context of young children in South Africa in 2012 is described and the main challenges affecting children and the early childhood development sector (ECD) in South Africa are investigated. A situation analysis of ECD in South Africa was undertaken using South African government ECD policy and programme implementation…

A key policy response to continuing concerns about levels of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom has been the promotion of integrated children's services, involving professionals from education, social work, health and other fields working together on an inter-agency basis. This small-scale qualitative research project, using an…

Attendance in preschool centers can yield short-term benefits for children from poor or middle-class families. Yet debate persists in Europe and the United States over whether centers yield gains of sufficient magnitude to sustain children's cognitive or social advantages as they move through primary school. We report on child care and home…