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Social services departments are struggling to cope with a flood of new referrals from local Sure Start projects, according to the Association of Directors of Social Services.

The government's programme for preventing social exclusion among children under four is producing a "significant" increase in referrals, says ADSS spokesperson on children and families Rob Hutchinson. Although the referrals are said to be appropriate, "already overburdened social services departments are having difficulty responding".

Hutchinson told Community Care that the ADSS strongly supports Sure Start and the Children's Fund. Both are important parts of the government's strategy for tackling social exclusion among children, he said, but not all Sure Start services were reaching those families in most need.

The new funding for these initiatives was welcome, but they could not work properly unless the whole child care system was adequately resourced, he said.

The ADSS would be looking to Sure Start and the Children's Fund "to point out to the government that unless social services receive significant new resources it will eventually put its own important objectives at risk", said Hutchinson.