Minister Zappone hosts Open Policy Debate on Child Poverty in association with the Children’s Rights Alliance

DCYA-led child-specific research programme initiative announced: Growing up in Ireland data to be used to explore what helps to protect children in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty
1st phase conducted a statistical baseline analysis of children’s and families’ financial circumstances, using existing data
2nd phase to commence in early 2020 through a recently established Research Partnership between the ESRI and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Today, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone TD hosted an Open Policy Debate on Child Poverty in association with the Children’s Rights Alliance in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

Keynote speakers that addressed today’s event included Minister Zappone, Professor Mary Daly from Oxford University and Dr. Delma Byrne from Maynooth University. The stakeholder partnership forum gathered stakeholders from government departments, government agencies, research and academic institutions, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.

The purpose of this Open Policy Debate was to identify the latest thinking and research on reducing child poverty, and to discuss innovative ways in which child poverty reduction efforts could be enhanced, particularly in the context of the next iteration of the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (2014 – 2020).

Minister Zappone also announced the commencement of a child-specific research programme to explore these issues. This initiative is being led and funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

The initiative was commenced earlier this year by establishing a statistical baseline analysis of children’s and families’ financial circumstances, using existing data. The next phase of the child-specific research programme will use child-specific Growing up in Ireland data and explore what helps to protect children in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty.

The Minister said:

“I believe that in order to eradicate child specific poverty, we must broaden and deepen our understanding and measurement of it. One of my key questions is how we can make children and young people more ‘visible’ as part of our policy efforts. Research shows that children and young people’s perspectives of experiencing poverty and disadvantage are different to those of adults. Indeed, there is strong evidence that the depth and persistence of poverty is particularly harmful to children’s development, life outcomes and inter-generational transmission of poverty. That is why a specific focus on how children experience poverty is important. Understanding their lived experiences can help lead us to implement genuinely ‘child-centred’ policies and to measure poverty and poverty reduction efforts in a way that reflects those experiences.

“This is an innovative project that will use child-specific Growing up in Ireland data. It will explore what helps to protect children in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty. It will make the children’s lives; when entering into and exiting out of poverty, visible.”

The Minister noted the positive year-on-year trend in child poverty reduction and the reduction of 5% from 2014. The newly released child poverty rate for 2018 has shown a reduction from 1.1 % from 2017 to 7.7% in 2018.

The Minister also reflected:

“Countries with the lowest poverty rates among children are those where investment on early years, education and health are the highest. Correspondingly these economies are also rated high on the key free-market indices. They are competitive, business-friendly and highly innovative. They are fair. This is what we need to aspire to. The development of the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is a significant leap towards the type of economy where we are investing in our children and reaping the benefits of an inclusive, smart and innovative economy as a consequence. It is my firm belief, we will make a significant impact on child poverty through the supports available under NCS.”

ENDS

Notes to the Editor:

Minister Zappone’s speech can be viewed here.

The Open Policy Debate focused on issues such as:

identifying systems and implementation measures that will reduce child poverty
systems and measures that address child poverty throughout the life cycle of the child
the role of income and targeted payments in addressing child poverty
identifying key quality services that will reduce child poverty in the short-term and the long-term
supporting parents to lift children out of poverty with education, training and quality childcare

The debate also centred on the development of the next National Policy Framework for Children and Young People from 2020 onwards in relation to child poverty and other high priority issues.

Minister Zappone announced a child specific research programme on child poverty involving two phases. This programme is led and managed by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs Research and Evaluation Unit.

First phase: Statistical Baseline Analysis

the first phase of this programme was to conduct a statistical baseline analysis of children’s and families’ financial circumstances, using existing data. The preliminary findings of the study were presented by Dr. Delma Byrne today at the Open Policy Debate today
this research highlights the strengths and weaknesses in current data collection on research on child poverty. It examines how data might be better used and to identify future data collection to better understand the incidence, the effects and the lived experience of child poverty in Ireland
the research also examines longitudinal studies such as the Growing up in Ireland (GUI) study, Children’s School Lives and the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing that can inform how children’s lives are shaped by poverty

Second phase

the next phase of the child-specific research programme is anticipated to commence in early 2020 through a recently established Research Partnership between the ESRI and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs
the Partnership will allow for an interrogation of medium- to long-term social policy concerns. A particular focus of the Partnership is to leverage the full longitudinal value of Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) data for policy

'What Works’ initiative

the DCYA/ESRI Research Partnership is being funded through the department’s What Works initiative. What Works is an initiative designed by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to support a move to evidence informed prevention and early intervention services for children, young people and their families representing a world first in OECD countries
the purpose of What Works is to take a co-ordinated approach to enhance capacity, knowledge and quality in prevention and early intervention for children, young people and their families. Prevention and early intervention (PEI) involve anticipating possible problems, minimising the risks as they arise, and targeting resources at those at high risk or showing early signs of a problem. Prevention and early intervention can reduce the long-term need for more costly, disruptive interventions throughout the child and young person’s life
funding allocated for the What Works initiative in 2019 is €3.4m and in 2020 €3.4m has also been allocated

Growing up in Ireland

https://www.esri.ie/growing-up-in-ireland.

Growing Up in Ireland is the national longitudinal study of children and young people in Ireland. The study is nationally representative with over 20,000 cohort members. It is funded by the Government of Ireland through the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.