Nurture little children who come to thee

DANIEL McANASPIE was only six-years-old when Children First was published.

The document set out best practice for the protection of vulnerable children. It was widely praised in all quarters as a suitable blueprint for state services when it saw the light of day in 1999.

By that stage, Daniel’s father had been dead three years. His mother was struggling to bring up six children on her own. The family lived in a disadvantaged enclave of Dublin, trying to cope with the social and economic problems that blight such housing estates.