Government commitments to
Prevention and Early Intervention
Winnie Donoghue
PEIN Residential, June 2014

The first overarching national policy framework
for children and young people aged from birth to
24 years

It is a whole-of-Government strategy that will be
implemented by the DCYA in collaboration with
all Government departments and key State
agencies.

Age -specific strategies such as the National
Early Years Strategy & Youth Strategy will be
situated under the Framework.
Goals
Support Parents
[Strengthening Support
system around child]
• One of the primary, universal and
most effective supports that the
State can provide
transfer resources from
Earlier Intervention& • gradually
crisis to earlier points of
Prevention
intervention.
Listen to & Involve
Children & Young
People
• supported to express their views in
all matters affecting them
Ensure Quality
Services
• outcomes-focused, demonstrating
improved outcomes over time.
• particularly in education, health,
Strengthen Transitions child welfare and youth justice.
Cross Governmental
& Interagency
collaboration &
Coordination
• Improved cross departmental &
interagency collaboration will be
driven by Cabinet
Outcomes
Active &
Healthy
Achieving in
learning and
development
Safe &
Protected
from Harm
Economic
Security &
Opportunity
Connected,
respected &
Contributing
Goal 1: Support Parents

Parents will experience improved support in the important task of
parenting and feel more confident, informed and able. (p28)
Goal 2: Prevention and Earlier Intervention

Rebalance resources from crisis intervention towards earlier points of
intervention, whilst ensuring effective crisis response

Lift over 70,000 children out of poverty by 2020

Focus on health & well being will lead to progress in childhood obesity
& mental health

Increased access to quality affordable early years education (p. 30)
Goal 3: Listen to and involve children and young people

Strengthen efforts to ensure that children and young people are
supported to express their views in all matters affecting them and to
have those views given their due weight, including those of ‘seldomheard’ children. (p. 32).

Goal 4: Ensure Quality Services
Investment in children will be more outcomes driven,
informed by research on the effectiveness of expenditure on
child services. Resource allocation within services will be
based on evidence of need and effectiveness, with services
that are not working being decommissioned. (p. 34).

Goal 5: Strengthening Transitions
bringing a stronger focus on effective transitions at key
developmental stages & between child & adult services,
particularly within the areas of education, health, child
welfare and youth justice (p. 36).

Goal 6: Cross Government and interagency collaboration &
coordination
implementation of the framework requires improving crossdepartmental & interagency co-ordination
 Universal
services are the main providers of
PEI - EY services, schools, youth, community
& health services need to be inclusive and
accessible.
 PEI is Cost effective
 need for a partnership approach to planning
and funding of PEI services.
 commitment to future planning and costbenefit analysis is required.
Active &
Healthy

G6. Explore the provision of an enhanced maternal antenatal and early childhood development service, building on
the review of the Community Nursing Services and related
developments in family support provision (including home
visiting), incorporating the learning from the Growing Up
In Ireland study and the PEI Programme. (HSE, Tusla, DH,
DCYA)

Bring a focus to healthy early development, prioritising the
under-2 year-olds, strengthening pre-natal and ante-natal
supports around the mother, addressing maternal health
and wellbeing, and raising breastfeeding and vaccination
rates in line with international norms. (DH, HSE, DCYA,
Tusla).

G9. Introduce universal GP services and continue to roll
out Primary Healthcare Teams, to promote early diagnosis
and treatment of ill-health. (DH, HSE)
Achieving in
learning and
development

G8. Continue to increase investment in highquality early years care and education for all
children, prioritising families on low incomes.
Introduce a second free pre-school year within
the lifetime of this Framework, once the
required quality standards are achieved and
subject to resources becoming available. (DCYA,
DES, Tusla, DSP)
Safe &
Protected
from Harm

G7. Provide and commission universal &
targeted evidence-informed parenting
supports and ensure early identification of ‘at
risk’ children, families and communities for
specific supports as appropriate to strengthen
families and reduce the incidences of children
coming into, and remaining in, care. (DCYA,
Tusla)

G10. Support quality youth work, both as a
protective factor contributing to the young
person’s overall development and in reaching out
to young people at risk of crime or
anti-social behaviour. (DCYA)
Connected,
respected &
Contributing
 G.
10. Support quality youth work, both as
a protective factor contributing to the
young person’s overall development and in
reaching out to young people at risk of crime
or anti-social behaviour. (DCYA)

G5. Work towards rebalancing resources to place a greater
emphasis on prevention and earlier intervention. (DCYA, DH,
DES, DJE, Tusla, HSE)

G11. Training and up-skilling of professionals across formal and
non-formal educational settings to be in a position to identify
potential child welfare and mental health issues, and to provide
preventative and early intervention support. (DCYA, DH, DES,
Tusla, HSE)

G12. Profile key risk factors for poor outcomes for children and
young people and develop practice tools to assist professionals in
identifying and – working with families –mitigating these risks.
(DCYA, DES, DH, Tusla, HSE)

G13. Implement the Area-Based Childhood Programme to address
the impact of child poverty and improve child outcomes in 10 or
more areas of disadvantage and mainstream the learning from
the programme to services throughout the country. (DCYA, DES,
DH, LCDC)






“Cabinet Committee on Social Policy”
A new, cross-government “Children and Young People's
Policy Consortium” (Supported by DCYA implementation
team)
Sponsors Group (subgroup of the Policy Consortium) with
members of 5 key Depts, each with lead responsibility for
National Outcome area (DOH, DES, DCYA, DSP, DOE).
"Advisory Council" that include NGOs. It will have two
"pillars", one for Early Years and one for Children & Youth.
“Children’s Services Committees National Steering Group”
with reps from CSCs, Local Authorities, CES, & DCYA.
Comhairle na nÓg National Executive (for young people age
12-18) and Structured Dialogue Working Group (for young
people age 15-25)
 To
monitor progress on implementation, the
policy framework also sets out a series of
"key indicators".
 further indicators will be developed during
2014.