It takes a village: Empowering families and communities to improve children's health

Improving children’s health has been a priority for decades. Yet, despite billions of pounds of investment and countless initiatives, outcomes are stagnating or getting worse. 

This government has pledged to create the “healthiest generation of children ever” and signalled a renewed focus on prevention and community health through the NHS 10 Year Plan. However, rhetoric risks running ahead of reality, with few new policies that add up to the scale of change required. 

This report argues that we need a decisive break with the status quo. Policy has too often focussed on the most visible and accessible levers – establishing new services or increasing treatment capacity – rather than the deeper work of changing the conditions that make children unwell in the first place. The system has been busy, but not effective.

By contrast, the biggest improvements in young people’s health over recent decades – from declining smoking rates to the sharp drop in teenage pregnancy – were driven by government facilitating shifts in everyday habits and social norms. A new kind of statecraft – rooted in the everyday lives of families and communities – is essential if we are to build the healthiest generation of children ever.

IPPR conducted new primary research – a nationally representative survey of more than 1,500 parents and six focus groups across England – to look beyond the statistics into the everyday realities of raising children in the UK today.

We found that parents felt they were the most responsible and influential actors in their children’s health, but also that they were at the mercy of wider forces. This report argues that families are the hidden frontline in the mission to improve children’s health, and that a progressive alternative must see parents and families as trusted and capable partners.

The key findings from IPPR’s original research with parents across the country are central to It takes a village. Together, they form the foundation of the report’s analysis and recommendations.

For readers seeking more detail on the evidence behind the report, including insights that could not be fully featured in the main publication, the following appendices present the underlying research in full:

• Appendix 1: Findings from qualitative research
  Summarises findings from in-depth discussions with nearly 50 parents from across England, exploring what “a healthy childhood” means to them, the pressures that make it harder to provide one, and the support and services they have found most and least useful.
• Appendix 2: Findings from a nationally representative survey
  Presents the results of a survey of over 1,500 parents in England, capturing how families across the country perceive children’s health today, what they see as the main barriers to children’s health, their experiences of support and services, and what kinds of government and community action they would most like to see.

You can download both appendices from the right hand side of this page.