Prevention, Partnership and Family Support

Cavan/Monaghan

Tusla: New Child & Family Agency

Under the Child & Family Agency Act (2013):• Child Welfare and Protection Services, including family support services • Family Resource Centres and associated national programmes • Early years (pre-school) Inspection Services • Educational Welfare responsibilities including School completion programmes and Home School Liaison • Domestic, sexual and gender based violence services

Tusla: New Child & family Agency

Child & Family Agency functions:• Supporting and promoting the development, welfare and protection of children, including the provision of care and protection for children in circumstances where their parents have not been able to, or are unlikely to, provide the care that a child needs • Supporting and encouraging the effective functioning of families, to include the provision of preventative family support services

Policy, Strategy & Guidance Documents PPFS1. Guidance for Implementation of an Area Based Approach

to Prevention, Partnership, and Family Support 2. Investing in Families: Supporting Parents to Improve

Outcomes for Children3. 50 Key Messages: Supporting Parents to Improve

Outcomes for Children4. What Works in Family Support?5. Commissioning Guidance6. Meitheal- a National Practice Model for all agencies

working with Children, Young People and their Families

Prevention, Partnership and Family Support

Investing in families/ 50 Key messages

What Works in Family Support

Commissioning Guidance

Meitheal National Practice Model

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The Local Area Pathway in the context of the National Service Delivery Framework :• Develop an integrated system of children’s services that will

have formal linkages with external services and that will establish processes and procedures that have children’s well being as their focus at all levels;

• Have clear and consistent referral pathways for children and families which are based on assessed need and with responses appropriate to meeting these needs.

• Working with clarification around thresholds for assessment and intervention.

• Ensure each referral is dealt with in an efficient, effective and proportionate manner and that families are directed to appropriate services in a timely and competent manner.

• Support and encourage referrers to exercise their judgement in an effective way and work collaboratively to use their resources in the best interest of children.

• Provide a framework for information sharing between core Agency services and other services.

National Service Delivery Framework

OtherCommunity &

Voluntary Services

Target Services

Early Intervention / Prevention

Universal ServicesE.g. Local Government, Education, Health

Local Area PathwaySupporting Children

and FamiliesSocial Work

Child in Care

Close

Child Protection

(CPNS)

Child Welfare re cases at risk of

formal intervention (DRM type response)

Formal Communication

Mechanism

Avai

labl

e Lo

cal

Com

mun

ity S

ervi

ces

Community & Voluntary

Services (38 & 39)

Referral

Initial Assessment

Point of Entry ScreeningContact Concern Intake

Not open to social work Open to social work

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The Purpose of Local Area Pathways • To create a collaborative network of community, voluntary

and statutory providers so as to improve access to support services for children and their families.

• To inform the commissioning process of deciding how to use the total resources available for children and families in order to improve outcomes in the most efficient, effective, equitable, proportionate and sustainable way.

• To operate the Meitheal – A National Practice Model for all Agencies working with Children, Young People and their Families. Meitheal is about preventative support where children have unmet additional and/or complex needs that need to be responded to but a referral under Children First is not required. 

• To provide a clear framework for action co-ordinated by a lead practitioner and led by family requirements through the Meitheal Model.

Local Area Pathway

Area Manager

Prevention, Partnership and Family Support Manager

Child and Family Network Co-Ordinator1 Cavan/1 Monaghan,

Monaghan NorthNetwork

Monaghan SouthNetwork

Cavan West Network

Cavan East Network

4/12/2013 13

Meitheal in Cavan/Monaghan

Partnership - Tusla, ISPCC and BarnardosSharon Casey PPFS Manager Tusla

Cavan/Monaghan.Kathryn Corrigan Barnardos (Cavan)Janice Wedlock ISPCC (Monaghan) Family Support Workers (4)Bernie, Antoinette, Sandra, Maura

Area Based ApproachPicks up cases of unmet need that do not

meet the threshold for social workCoordinator/Lead practitioner meets

family/individual & gathers initial information.

Directs family/individual to local service/sUtilisation of Common Assessment

Framework - MeithealProvides parenting skills, practical

support, advice & guidance, befriending, advocacy

Supports key workers/Lead agencies engaged with families. 15

Meitheal is an old Irish term that describes how neighbours would come together to assist in the saving of crops or other tasks. In this context Meitheal is a National Practice Model to ensure that the needs and strengths of children and their families are effectively identified and understood and responded to in a timely way so that children and families get the help and support needed to improve children’s outcomes and realise their rights.

It is an early intervention, multi-agency (when necessary) response tailored to needs of an individual child or young person..

Based on the My World Triangle: The Meitheal Model looks at the whole child in a holistic manner, in the context of his or her family and environment.

Standardised approach: Supported by standardised documentation.

Normally targeted towards children with unmet needs: It takes into account strengths and resilience as well as difficulties and needs.

Meitheal can be utilised by trained practitioners’ from different agencies: It is a national practice model for all services and agencies who come into contact with children and their families in the course of their work.

Based on Parental Consent: The decision to participate in the Meitheal Model is voluntary, parents are involved in all aspects of the Meitheal Model, from the decision to enter the Meitheal process, to the nature of information to be shared, outcomes desired, support delivered, agencies to be involved to the decision on when to close the process. A Meitheal meeting cannot take place without the involvement of at least one parent.

The Lead Practitioner role is central: The family is supported; and the response to the child’s needs is coordinated by a Lead Practitioner. A Lead Practitioner can be drawn from any of the members of the Child and Family Support Network