‘Improve Children’s Lives’ plea to Northern Ireland Executive
Northern Ireland Junior Ministers Martina Anderson (fourth left) and Jonathan Bell (back, second right) with speakers and delegates at the ‘Improving Children’s Lives’ conference
The Northern Ireland Executive is being urged to improve local children’s lives by championing integrated planning processes for children’s services into a single coherent framework for action. The call to action was made as leading researchers, policy makers, commissioners and service providers met at Queen’s for a conference on “Improving Children’s Lives: Outcomes, Partnership and Planning”.
The event was co-hosted by the Improving Children’s Lives initiative (ICL), an inter-disciplinary network of leading researchers within Queen’s who work with children and young people; Children in Northern Ireland (CiNI); the Health and Social Care Board (HSC); and the Public Health Agency (PHA).
The conference addressed the issue of how all statutory bodies can work in partnership with the research community, voluntary and community sectors, to provide outcomes-focused services.
Geraldine Macdonald, Professor of Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast and Deputy Chair of the Improving Children’s Lives initiative, said: “History testifies that good intentions are not enough. We must be able to demonstrate that what we do improves children’s lives in ways that we intend, and in ways that matter. Setting clear, meaningful and measurable goals is at the heart of outcomes-based service planning. This seminar brought together researchers, policy makers, commissioners, and service providers, to wrestle with the challenge of developing our professional accountability to children and young people.”
The conference was particularly timely in Northern Ireland, where the newly-established Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership (CYPSP) provides a mechanism through which all agencies can plan together for improved outcomes for children and young people.
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