Seven-year study to track well-being of children

THE Government is to track the progress of 18,000 children over the next seven years to help inform future policy on services for young people.

The research programme is likely to be the most significant such work in relation to children and is being funded by the Office of the Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan.

He has engaged the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Children’s Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin to carry out the task.

Their work will begin with the recruitment of 10,000 children at birth and another 8,000 nine-year-olds. The researchers will collect data from them or their parents at two points during the seven-year term of the contract.

The team of researchers will be assessing and evaluating the various factors which contribute to, or which can undermine, the well-being of children in contemporary Irish families.

The aim is to better inform Government policy in areas such as health, education, childcare and other issues around children and families.

Similar research has been carried out in other countries in the past and has proved beneficial and hugely informative to public policy in relation to children.

The estimated cost of the project is unclear at this point but Mr Lenihan and the research leaders will announce full details of the programme in Government Buildings this afternoon.

Professor James Williams of the ESRI has been appointed principal investigator of the National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland. He will be assisted by co-director Professor Sheila Greene, who is director of the Children’s Research Centre at TCD.

The work is likely to be guided by previous work of the National Children’s Office, which sought to establish what factors influence positive or negative childhood experiences.

These well-being indicators were determined after research was conducted with various groups working with young people, as well as with children themselves.

The Centre for Health Promotion Studies at NUI Galway contributed to the work and found that the main areas of importance to children were their parents, family, friendships and activities.

They also spoke of the benefits of having access to parks and playgrounds, supporting their friends, being looked after when they are sick, feeling safe in their homes, the companionship of their pets and the encouragement of their teachers.

The work about to be undertaken may seek to determine the levels to which these factors are being achieved or the background and circumstances of children who do not have these supports.

The research is being supported by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and by the Central Statistics Office.