From Welfare to Well-Being

By cypscAdmin, Friday, 17th June 2016 | 0 comments
Filed under: Implementation.

At a recent conference in Dundalk, County Louth, delegates heard how agencies have come together to break down barriers and take a truly holistic approach to child well-being and family support.

Lack of joined-up thinking between government agencies is often lamented in the media however Co. Louth CYPSC in collaboration with The Genesis Programme, an ABC funded programme is seeking to change all of that.  

Louth CYPSC brings together 16 organisations working with children and families in Co.Louth. The Genesis Programme works with a consortium of over 50 organisations including schools, early years services, community organisations, HSE, Tusla and other agencies working with children and families. Emerging from this collaboration is a new roadmap for supporting children’s development in Ireland.

They say it takes a community to raise a child. And in Louth you can see this in action before your eyes. This inter-agency collaboration bringing together schools, early years services, community organisations, HSE, Tusla and other agencies are breaking down the barriers that divide them and firmly placing the well-being of children and their families at the heart of their work. 

The conference was jointly hosted by the Genesis Project and the Louth Children and Young People's Services Committee with the support of Louth Leader Partnership, the HSE and Tusla. Delegates travelled from all over the country to the conference in Dundalk Institute of Technology to learn about the new and innovative best practice models being applied in County Louth.

In a particularly innovative move the conference featured a series of roundtable workshops lead by specialist teams from Louth. Topics included Strengthening Families, promoting positive infant mental health, Incredible Beginnings (the latest programme to be developed in the Incredible Years series), education provision in the area of domestic abuse and the development of a Transitional Housing Project. These sessions allowed the delegates to learn at first hand from those in Louth that are leading the way.

Guest speakers at the conference included:

Fred McBride CEO of Tusla-Child and Family Agency

Jim McGuigan, National Lead for Alternative Care Strategy, Tusla-Child and Family Agency and former Chairperson of Louth CYPSC

Professor Richard Layte of Trinity College Dublin and the Economic and Social Research Institute 

Senator Lynn Ruane former President of Trinity College, Dublin Students Union.           

 

For more information on Louth CYPSC click here.

For more on the Genesis Programme click here.