WINCHESTER Guildhall was packed out with over 300 delegates for a conference which discussed the importance of children’s welfare.

The Guildhall hosted Home-Start Hampshire’s Early Years conference, attended by delegates from the county council, Portsmouth City Council, East Hampshire District Council, Newport County Council, Police, health and education services and Home-Start representatives.

Cllr Eileen Berry, the Mayor of Winchester also attended, alongside Winchester and Chandler’s Ford MP Steve Brine and Eastleigh MP Mike Thornton.

Vice President of the charity, Alastair Stewart, was compere for the day - which was aimed at influencing child care strategy in Hampshire; reinforcing the need for early years intervention and to provide a forum for networking and creating partnerships for the future.

Speaker Camila Batmanghelidgh, founder of Kids Company, described how the spiral of abuse, be it physical or mental, continues into adulthood if children are not given the support and understanding they need early on in life. 

“Until children can develop an inner safety,” she said, “they cannot face the outside world.”

Speaker Dr Alain Gregoire, chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, added: “Mothers’ childhood maltreatment has a significant impact on their own children and I am so pleased that the mental health of new mothers is a key priority for Home-Start.”

Liz Cooper, chair of Home-Start in Hampshire, said the conference had “renewed commitment to reinforcing the need to support families with young children and vulnerable pregnant mothers”.

“There was plenty of audience participation and the conference had a real buzz,” she said. “There is currently huge pressure on government to prioritise early years intervention and we hope that our conference will have played a small part in identifying the problems we will face if there is no investment in organisations such as Home-Start.”