Abstract :
This article, based on a study conducted in a multi-ethnic Sure Start programme between 2003-6, explores aspects of the interface between policy, implementation and use of services. The early Sure Start discourse depicted parents both as legitimate recipients of support and as active and aspirational agents. It is argued that the second of these identities, tapping into a ʹsocial investmentʹ agenda, increasingly characterised the direction of the policy discourse. Interview data from professionals in the case study area about local need and use of services, however, emphasised the ʹconstrained agencyʹ of many local mothers, and the inappropriateness therefore of the perceived direction of policy.
