Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children
Child and Family Support Agency: Discussion
10:40 am
Mr. Seán Campbell:
On Senator van Turnhout's point on early intervention, it is true that it is not only about early years. It is very much about intervening at the time when the issue is emerging. That can be at age 13, 14 or 15 as much as it can be in the first five years. We need to have a system in place that can respond to those early interventions and pick them up. We also need robust universal services in which to treat young people properly, including Foróige clubs, scouts, guides and whatever there needs to be. Whether one is a young person in care or a young person who is going through it, one needs the normalisation and one needs to be part of a community. That is as much part of the protection of a young person as are other, more directed, services. We need to ensure that there is balance in this regard and not to lose sight in this agency that it is all about child protection.
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