Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Ireland’s Area Based Responses to
Child Poverty
June 2013
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
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The Irish Context;
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Tallaght West: A Disadvantaged Community;
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CDI: Meeting needs, making changes, improving
outcomes;
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The essence of a community response to child poverty.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
What’s Changed?
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
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Total population: 4.6m compared with 4.2
2006, an increase of 8.1 per cent i.e. an annual
average increase of 68,284, or 1.6 per cent
(CSO, 2011);
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Largely homogenous population;
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Significant rural areas remain;
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Little industry;
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Economic reliance on service sector.
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Components of population change (average figures from
each inter-censal period, 1956-2011)
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Significant population increase between 1991
and 2002;
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History of emigration until 1990’s;
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Immigration relatively new concept;
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Recent return of emigration in the context of
the fiscal downturn and correlating
population reduction.
Percentage of individuals
EU (27 countries)
Year
Ireland
2004
24.8
NA
2005
25.0
25.6
2006
23.3
25.2
2007
23.1
24.4
2008
23.7
23.6
2009
25.7
23.1
2010
29.9
23.5
2011
29.4
24.2
Source: Eurostat
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Significant economic growth during ‘Celtic tiger’
(commenced late 1990’s/2000);
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Recession since 2008;
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Europe – wide Euro crisis and austerity measures;
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Significant tension between public vs. commercial
sector;
Major public reform agenda.
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Poverty is measured nationally using a Deprivation
Index developed by Trutz Haase and Jonathan
Pratschke;
The Census of Population measures the overall
national affluence and deprivation at the level of
18,488 ‘Small Areas’;
The index reveals the dramatic decline in relative
affluence, represented in the fall of the mean index
score from 0 in 2006 to -7.0 in 2011;
18.6% of children in Ireland are at risk of poverty.
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“Children of mothers with no educational
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Lone parent families are most at risk of poverty.
qualifications are six times as likely as children of
mothers with third level education to be multiply
deprived (that is, exposed to both child specific
and basic deprivation) and twice as likely to be in
households characterized by basic only
deprivation, controlling for other factors
controlled,” Watson, D., et al (2012);
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Total population in TW: 29,241 (CSO, 2011);
16% population increase in last four years,
compared to 1.6% nationally;
7,767 families live in Tallaght West;
85% of them have at least one child in their family;
High youth population: 32.3% under 14 compared
to 21.3% nationally;
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30 percent of children experience basic deprivation
compared to 23 percent of the total population;
54% of children in Tallaght West live in lone parent
families, compared to the national average of
18.3%;
The total deprivation score 2011 = -11.69,
compared to -7 .0 nationally;
The lowest minus value Deprivation Score 2011 in
Tallaght west = -23.70 (which is the second most
deprived small area in the Country).
120.0
100.0
11.7
80.0
65+ Years
60.0
65.3
67.0
40.0
20.0
32.3
21.3
0.0
Tallaght W
Ireland
15-64 Years
0-14 years
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Unemployment rate among males is 41.3% and
females is 27.7% compared to national rates of
22.3% and 15% respectively;
Persons on the Live Register in Tallaght West
increased from 4,291 in 2008 to 11,475 in 2013
(167% increase);
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18% of Tallaght West population has primary
education only;
23.3% has lower secondary education (7
years) and 22.5% has upper secondary (11
years);
At the national level these rates are 13.8%,
16.6% and 20% respectively;
Only slightly more than 11% of the population
completed education above Bachelor Degree
level, compared to 25% nationally.
80
76%
70
60
50
40
28.9%
30
20
10
0
How Are Our Families
Ireland
15.8
Ireland
2.5
Lone mothers with
children
Lone fathers with
36.1
Tallaght W
0
10
20
children
3
30
40
50
Ireland
25.56
3.64
Lone mothers with children
Lone fathers with children
Tallaght W
50.19
0
20
3.17
40
60
1.8
Widowed
4.2
2.0
Divorced
1.9
Separated
3.3
2.5
Married
25.1
37.2
Single
67.8
54.2
Single
Married
Separated
Divorced
Widowed
Tallaght W
67.8
25.1
3.3
2.0
1.8
Ireland
54.2
37.2
2.5
1.9
4.2
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One of three areas constituting the Prevention and Early
Intervention Programme (PEIP), funded through
Government and Philanthropy;
Formally established 2007, after three years of ground
work;
Strategy developed and implemented: informed by and
in consultation with those living and working in Tallaght
West;
2012 Government announcement to establish area
based responses to child poverty, to consolidate the
work of the PEIPs.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
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To improve outcomes for children and families, and;
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To test and create evidence to inform policy and practice
through;
◦ Commissioning local service providers;
◦ Designing and delivering seven manualised
programmes;
◦ Eight rigorous independent evaluations (seven now
published).
2007-2012
17.1%
Service Delivery €8,689,905
Service Design and Quality
Assurance €1,249,847
16.6%
Evaluation €2,480,551
58.0%
Overheads €2,564,866
8.3%
Early Years Service
(2-4 year olds)
Mate-Tricks Prosocial Behaviour
Programme (9-10
year olds)
Early Intervention
Speech and Language
Therapy Model (3-6
year olds)
Healthy Schools
Programme (4-12
year olds)
Restorative Practices
Doodle Den Literacy
Programme (5-6
years)
Community Safety
Initiative
Quality Enhancement
Programme
26
Children
183
660
525
482
Early Years
Doodle Den
Mate Tricks
SLT
4192
CSI
2349
RP
HSP
n = 8540
123
QEP
Parents
39
146
183
Early Years
660
Doodle Den
Mate Tricks
SLT
CSI
RP
1264
HSP
QEP
525
n = 2817
82
69
Staff
70
45
Early Years
166
Doodle Den
Mate Tricks
SLT
779
CSI
2542
n = 3753
0
RP
HSP
QEP
3 Randomised
Controlled Trials
3 Process
Evaluations
Quasi-Experimental
Study
Retrospective
Impact Study
Healthy School’s
Programme – (TCD)
Speech &
Language Therapy
7 percentile point gain in overall literacy
ability
Particular gains seen in: Word Recognition (7
percentile point gain); Sentence Structure (12
percentile point gain); and child’s word choice
(10 percentile point gain)
Combined with teachers ratings, this
increased to an 11 percentile point gain
Teacher’s reports indicate a 7 percentile
point decrease in negative behaviours
Parent’s report increase in child's
reading at home (10 percentile points)
Increase in family library activity (15
percentile points)
Improved school attendance
Parental reported child literacy activity
These secondary outcomes were approaching statistical significance and all were
moving in a positive direction.
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International evidence that over 50% of children in
disadvantaged communities will require SLT intervention;
Three pronged approach: child, parent and school/early
years service;
On-site delivery and ‘scaffolding’ of parents to engage;
Strong potential for Early Years services and schools to
identify, and intervene, in the case of children with speech
and language needs and to support their families through
the therapy process;
At least 18% of children transitioned from the service with
normal speech and language limits post-intervention. This
finding is particularly positive in the context of multiple
disadvantage;
The intervention effectively removed one further risk factor
from the lives of a proportion of these children.
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39 children referred to other non-SLT specialist services both
during intervention and at point of transition, 31% ear nose and
throat, 5% psychology, 15% multiple, 18% audiology, 21%
assessment of need and 10% other;
Changes in practice developed within the Early Years services
and schools in relation to the support of speech and language
development;
Improved SLT satisfaction from working in an intensive manner
with children, shorter waiting lists and on-site therapy;
Parents: easier access because of the model’s location and nonstigmatizing experience for their child;
Early Years RCT: 85% of intervention children were classified as
‘normal’ on the SDQ Hyperactivity subscale, compared with
78.45% in the control group (teacher-rated);
The more sessions of a parenting course that parents attended,
the more beneficial the home learning environment.
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Significant improvement in people’s ability to
manage conflict with greatest gains made in
interagency work and between neighbours;
Significant improvement in relationships with
greatest gains between organisations and their
service users;
87% better management of conflict;
43% reduction in disputes with greatest gains
made in the workplace.
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Parent support works best when formal and
informal approaches are combined;
Outcomes for children are maximised when
parents participate;
Instinct isn’t enough and children enjoying an
intervention doesn’t equate to positive
change;
Developing capacity amongst staff is central
to any strategy;
Managers ability to support and mentor is
critical.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
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Time lags and collective amnesia;
Getting buy-in to a ‘scientific approach’;
Fear of being de-professionalised in the
context of manualised programmes;
Using and creating evidence (outcome data
unavailable throughout service delivery);
Creating and supporting change in terms of
e.g. ways of working, nature of relationships,
etc.
Meeting needs, making changes, improving outcomes.
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Honesty;
Transparency and communication;
Admitting that we are not the
experts;
Good coffee;
Well run meetings;
Humour;
Informal follow-up and
connections;
Quick wins;
Documenting everything!
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Consultation, collaboration: having a named
person responsible for bringing people together;
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Identifying need (within existing resources);
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Utilising evidence to maximise positive
outcomes;
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Work with existing services to develop capacity;
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Resource change management processes,
upskilling, getting buy-in, developing leadership.
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Central Statistics Office. Census of Population 2006. Dublin: Central
Statistics Office, 2006.
Central Statistics Office. Census of Population 2006; 2011. Dublin: Central
Statistics Office, 2006/2011.
Childhood Development Initiative. How Are Our Kids? (2004)
Childhood Development Initiative. How Are Our Families? (2010)
Childhood Development Initiative. Quality Services, Better Outcomes (2011)
DOHC. (2008) (www.dohc.ie) cited in Keilthy, C. (2009) Medical Card
Eligibility: Profiling People Living in Poverty without a Medical Card using EU
– SILC 2006. (CPA)
Watson, D. et al, 2012, Understanding Childhood Deprivation in Ireland,
Department of Social Protection and the Economic and Social research
Institute, Dublin, Ireland.
www.twcdi.ie
marian@twcdi.ie
NB all seven CDI evaluation reports and eight policy papers are
available on our website.
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
www.twcdi.ie
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