Children's welfare: Ireland has a long way to go in providing co-ordinated children's health and social services, a conference organised by the Programme for Action for Children has heard.
Although a lot of programmes for children were already in place, there was a need for the various departments and services which deal with children to work more closely together, said Con Hogan, senior fellow with the Centre for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, DC.
"Best practice involves working together," Mr Hogan, an expert on child welfare and family support, said. "It's one of the hardest things to do. It's not a criticism but, yes, Ireland, like many countries, has a long way to go."
In areas where service providers work together "we've been able to demonstrate clearly that the results are better", he said. "In Vermont, long-term trends show we have done a better job than most. For instance, teenage pregnancy rates among 14- to 17-year-olds fell by 40 per cent," he said.
Substantial investment in preventing social and health problems in Vermont was also key to better outcomes for children and resulted in significant reductions in public expenditure, he said.
What were generally referred to as "social problems" were symptoms of our failure as a society to adequately address certain human needs or to respond to the underlying causes of challenges to public health and well-being, he said.
Examples such as low birth weight, teen pregnancy, child abuse, early school leaving and crime divert huge resources, both human and economic, that could otherwise contribute to collective well-being.
The Vermont experiences of increasing investment in a "front-end loaded" prevention focus was beginning to bear fruit in tackling these symptoms, Hogan said. He also stressed the importance of people in social and health services sharing their experiences.
Dr Maggie Barker, head of public health and effectiveness at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London, spoke of the importance of government departments working together to tackle health inequalities. For example, Irish children living in poverty are more likely to experience ill health and to die younger in later life.
She highlighted the importance of high quality and accessible services for mothers and children in particular.
Another key theme at the conference was the importance of involving children in planning services that affect their lives.
In keeping with this message, about 20 young people from around Ireland were, for the first time, involved in the conference.
Participants included members of the Cootehill & Ballybay youth health group, a demonstration project established in August 2003 which aims to help the North Eastern Health Board become more adolescent-friendly.
Jane Gleeson (16), a pupil with Ballybay Community College and a member of the local health group, said: "It was such a big difference to have everyone listening to our opinions and views."
The main lessons she learned at the conference were: "There's a very big step to take in getting health boards more adolescent-friendly, especially for those living in a small town where everyone knows everyone's business and where everyone knows the local GP. Also I learned that adults can talk to adolescents."
Marie Fitzpatrick, project officer for the NEHB youth health group, believes the conference was "an excellent forum for looking at children's services, especially as the young people were participating and the heads of various departments were there."
Anne O'Donnell of the National Children's Office, which also participated, said: "It's slowly being realised that if we are working on planning children's services, they have to be involved," he said. "This way they will be much more effective."