Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman has launched several Maynooth University reports, setting out the findings of the first ever comprehensive review of the provision of home visiting services for families with babies and young children in Ireland.
This research was conducted by the UNITES team, led by Professor Sinéad McGilloway and Deirdre Forde who are based at the Centre for Mental Health and Community Research in Maynooth University. The research project involved four main elements:
o A critical mapping and in-depth review of home visiting service provision in Ireland;
o A review of all of the research conducted on home visiting in Ireland to date, contextualised with reference to relevant international evidence;
o An exploration of the views and experiences of a large number, and wide range, of individuals and organisations working in the home visiting sector in Ireland, as well as families who are receiving these services; and
o The identification of a number of key policy recommendations and considerations for the development of a national approach to home visiting services in Ireland.
The Minister also launched a follow-up study by Professor Orla Doyle, UCD, making the economic case for investing in Home Visiting programmes.
Commenting on the reports, Minister O’Gorman said:
“One of the actions within The First 5 Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, was to agree a national approach to home visiting service provision, building on the current Public Health Nurse Visitation, programme and having regard to Irish evidence on the implementation of prevention and early intervention initiatives. These reports provide a background to the development of the provision of home visiting services across Ireland, whilst also framing approaches relating to home visiting provision in an international context.”
“There are many benefits which home visiting programmes bring to the lives of parents, babies and young children such as, support and guidance for parents pre and post birth, the promotion of infant child health and enhanced levels of school readiness for children. The findings and recommendations contained within these reports will be most valuable to my department as we work to develop a sustainable national approach to home visiting services to improve outcomes for parents and their children.”
‘Furthermore, the follow up economic study commissioned by my department, estimates that further investment in evidenced based Home Visiting programmes is likely to generate a positive return on investment for the exchequer in the long run.’
“I wish to extend my gratitude to the parents and stakeholders who gave their time to participate in the consultations that took place as part of the research project. I also would like to acknowledge the work of the UNITES team at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and to Professor Orla Doyle from UCD, who delivered these substantial pieces of research.” The full reports can be read here
About Home Visiting Programmes: Home visiting programmes provide support and guidance to expecting parents and parents of babies and young children. Home visiting is a prevention strategy used to support parents to promote infant and child health, foster educational development and school readiness, and help prevent child abuse and neglect.
Different models of home visiting exist. Home visiting programmes for parents of babies and young children are funded by Tusla and the HSE in some areas in Ireland. Programmes available include Preparing for Life, Lifestart, ParentChild+, Infant Mental Health and Community Mothers. The duration of each home visiting programme varies although most are provided for a period of two years or longer. The frequency of visits also varies, from twice weekly to monthly visits.
The First 5 Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families includes an action to agree an approach to home visiting services, across a continuum of need, building on the current public health nurse home visitation programme and having regard to Irish evidence on the implementation of prevention and early intervention initiatives. This action has also been included within Supporting Parents: A National Model for Parenting Support Services launched by Minister O’Gorman in April 2022.