Public Awareness

The Prevention, Partnership and Family Support programme (PPFS) understands that the best way to improve outcomes for children is to intervene at an early stage to resolve problems and prevent harm. The aim of the programme is to prevent risks, arising or escalating, to children and young people, through building relationships within communities, Tusla and partner organisations to perform early intervention work. The PPFS public awareness and engagement work stream aims to support growing partnerships with stakeholders, funded agencies, partners, the general public and the children and families who use PPFS services. Successful early intervention depends on clear flow of information between service providers and service users. It is key that information about the range of PPFS supports are available to service users directly, that service providers are familiar with the full scope of supports available to them, and programme managers are empowered to commission services based on feedback.

The public awareness campaign for PPFS has three phases:

Internal awareness – to ensure that the ethos and resources of Prevention, Partnership and Family Support is practiced by all Tusla staff across the continuum of care.
Stakeholder awareness – to ensure our partners, stakeholders and funded agencies are engaged in all aspects of Prevention, Partnership and Family Support work, and encourage children and their families to avail in the resources available to them.
Public awareness – to ensure the general public are aware of Tulsa’s work to develop an early intervention approach by supporting Prevention, Participation and Family Support services, and the ways in which PPFS can support children and families realising their rights to the fullest.

Supporting Public Awareness and Engagement with PPFS

Enhance children and families participation in decision making processes by;

Hosting an annual National Participation conference led by young people;
Produce a toolkit to facilitate engagement with children and young people at every level of decision making within Tusla;
Promote the Investing in Children award which recognises and celebrates examples of inclusive practice by organisations who’s services demonstrate a commitment with young people that leads to change;
Develop the PPFS section of the Tusla website as a hub to host the resources needed to facilitate the participation of young people in decision making practices;
Creating a Child and Family participation newsletter for Tusla staff and partners;
Supporting the creation of a child friendly website with content driven by children and young people, to offer clarity surrounding the process of using family supports.

Support Our Partners Collaborating with PPFS by

Hosting briefing events for service providers, practitioners and partners who support families using early intervention services;
Developing a PPFS brochure and promotional materials as a source of information about the supports available to young people and families engaging with PPFS programmes;
Hosting high level briefing events and direct outreach to public representatives, service directors and policy makers about the evidence base supporting an early intervention and prevention approach;
Hosting annual national PPFS conferences on the implementation of prevention approach across the continuum of care.

Empower Practitioners to roll-out PPFS programmes by

Scheduling regular content and publications specifically aimed at educating Tusla staff about the supports and services available under PPFS;
Showcasing the positive work being done under the PPFS programme to Tusla staff and partner organisations;
Hosting annual national PPFS conferences and workshops;
Sharing information about the evidence base on which the PPFS model is based.

Enhance Public Awareness of PPFS Programme Services by

Undertaking a large scale public awareness campaign for the duration of 2017 / 2018 aiming to increase awareness and engagement with PPFS services;
Develop a distribution strategy to ensure key PPFS materials and communication supports are available at regional level, when they’re needed;
Create a targeted media campaign using specific national and regional media platforms to enhance public awareness of PPFS programme services ;
Produce a suite of materials on the evidence base supporting PPFS, the services provided by the PPFS programme, and the benefits for practitioners of supporting families and young people working to realise their rights to the fullest.

Supporting Parents and Promoting Positive Parenting

Highlighting the role of Parent Support Champions and the work commissioned under the seed grant initiatives;
Develop the PPFS section of the Tusla website as a hub for resources for parents and practitioners working with families;
Realise the potential of the Parenting 24 Seven website by highlighting the platform to service users, partner organisations and practitioners working with families;
Create a Parenting newsletter for Tusla staff, service partners, and Parent Support Champions;
Host a national conference on the Parenting Work stream and showcase the projects developed with seed funding grants;

Prevention, Partnership ...