Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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678. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if financial and operational support will be provided for the national family resource centre programme to assist in operations, an adequate evaluation system and the implementation of a national development officer to ensure the continuation of a professional network (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30573/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency is providing funding of €13.09m to the Family Resource Centre Programme in 2015, the same level overall as in 2014. There are currently 109 communities supported through the Family and Community Services Resource Centre Programme funded by Tusla.

Tusla values the work of Family Resource Centres and recognises the positive impact of their work in supporting families and local communities. Family Resource Centres provide a holistic service of child, family and community support and advocacy to children and families in their communities.

Family Resource Centres are supported by two Regional Support Agencies, Framework and West Training and Development. These support agencies play a key role in promoting good practice within the programme and providing technical support, advice and training to Family Resource Centres. Going forward Tusla proposes to continue to fund these agencies for these purposes.

Tusla provides funding to the Family Resource Centre National Forum (Forum) to support its activities. The Agency fully appreciates and values the work of the Forum as a support network working with all the Family Resource Centres throughout Ireland. The Forum represents the views of all Family Resource Centres nationally and provides networking and training opportunities, information and practical support for its members.

This Forum is a valuable asset in the overall operation of the programme. It ensures a representative voice at national level and coherence within the programme. In recognition of the valuable contribution the Family Resource Centre National Forum makes to the work of Family Resource Centres, Tusla intends to continue to provide funding to the Forum.

The Agency also fully recognises the need to maintain accurate up-to-date statistics demonstrating the valuable contribution Family Resource Centres make to Tusla’s strategic aims and objectives. To this end, Tusla already has in place a software-based data collection and self-evaluation system entitled SPEAK (Strategic Planning, Evaluation and Knowledge System) available to each Family Resource Centre. A key feature of SPEAK is that it can operate across multiple Family Resource Centres so that the data collected from each Project is collated into a single database.

Increasingly, SPEAK data is being used at programme level to present an overview of what is happening at national level. This data informs quarterly reports that demonstrate the contribution of Family Resource Centres to the overall work of Tusla.

Tusla has advised that it welcomes the many worthwhile proposals that the Deputy has put forward to improve and build on the strengths of the Family Resource Centre Programme in meeting its mandate for community-based early intervention and family support. While all funding available under Tusla’s Family Resource Centre Programme for 2015 has already been fully allocated, Tusla is keen to invest further in the staffing and training needs of Family Resource Centres to enable the Programme to respond to the challenges it anticipates in the future.