CUTBACKS to baby groups at children’s centres could create a “class divide” and “devastate communities”.

Mothers fear families will be segregated if Brighton and Hove City Council decide to introduce restrictions on who can benefit from services at children’s centres as part of cost-cutting measures.

Specialised groups for “high need” families could be set up, and those who are deemed to not require as much support could face limits as to the amount of groups they can attend if plans go ahead to cut £800,000 from the children’s centre budget.

Parents believe it will mean families will be judged by their financial and social status.

Emma Thurlow, who moved to Coldean after growing up in Norfolk and Suffolk, claims it was assumed she did not need support because she came from an economically stable, middle class household. She has two sons, Elliott, who is now six, and four-year-old Sidney and battled feelings of isolation and depression when she first gave birth.

She said: “My mother died from cancer when I was eight and my father committed suicide when I was 23.

“There was a history of depression in the family. I really should have been an obvious case for support but because there were things like books on the shelf I think there was an assumption I was ok.”

Mrs Thurlow said a now-closed group in Coldean, and services at Moulsecoomb Children’s Centre, proved invaluable.

She made a lifelong friendship with another mother through the group.

Having previously worked at the Hangleton Children’s Centre, she thinks she can see the impact of a class divide from both perspectives and said: “I would have hated to be seen as a targeted group.

“This would have just made me feel like a useless mother who could not cope, not as a human being that just needed a bit of support. Informal advice from other mothers – from all walks of life - was essential to me.

“Replacing it with the idea of targeting parents is like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, it will just end up with more parents in crisis.

“If the council launches targeted groups they may not be that effective as people may not turn up – they don’t want to feel stigmatised. And it could have a devastating effect on communities.”