Resources

The strategy of the Irish Government in this regard is set out in the National Children's Strategy (PDF).  The children’s strategy for Northern Ireland is set out in A 10-Year Strategy for Children and Young People in Northern Ireland.  

Some leading organisations in the provision of best practice in services to children and families are referenced below:

The Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State University aims to promote the well-being of children and youth and to reduce the prevalence of high risk behaviours and poor outcomes for children, families and communities. The center has four primary goals:

• to conduct collaborative research to examine the effectiveness of innovative models of preventive intervention;
• to provide training on topics related to prevention research;
• to provide assistance to Pennsylvania communities on the development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention programs, and
• to provide policy-relevant information on best practices to federal, state and local governments.  

The Director is Prof. Mark Greenberg.  Prof. Greenberg is also a joint project leader of PROSPER, a cooperative project of Iowa State University and Penn State University. Researchers at these institutions are investigating ways to build networks with schools, state extension services, universities, and community members who care, to provide life-skills-enhancing training for youth and families.

The mission of the Georgetown University Center on Health and Education is to help realise health equity and educational excellence worldwide.  It seeks to achieve this mission through:

• conducting interdisciplinary research related to understanding and eliminating health and educational disparities;
• developing and implementing innovative real-world programs and supports to improve the health and educational attainment of individuals, families, and communities;
• educating health care providers and educators, administrators and policymakers, the media, and parents and individuals about proven strategies to improve health and education outcomes; and
• developing and evaluating the efficacy of alternative methods of creating sustainable change at the individual, group, and community level to eliminate health and educational inequities.  Sharon Landesman Ramey, and Dr Craig Ramey are the founding Directors of the Centre.