FERGUS Finlay, CEO of Barnardos, and Dr Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children, were among the dignitaries in attendance last week as Better Finglas officially celebrated three years working with children and families in the area.
Also there were local TDs, Róisín Shortall (SD) and Noel Rock, (FG) along with local practitioners, supporters and consortium members of Better Finglas.
Established in 2015, Better Finglas was developed by a number of agencies, organisations, groups and individuals working in Finglas.
Better Finglas recently published an evaluation report on their interagency work and celebrated its various services and initiatives at an event Finglas Youth Resource Centre.
Speaking at last week’s official celebration event Fergus Finlay, speaking on behalf of the Better Finglas lead agency Barnardos, recognised how much of an honour it had been for the charity to be involved in the wider group of local and national organisations who support the Better Finglas initiative.
“The incredible mix of good leadership has led to better lives for children and their families,” he said.
Better Finglas is one of 13 projects in Ireland developed as part of the Area Based Childhood Programme. The programme was originally co-funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, which targets investment in effective services to improve the outcomes for children and families.
During his address, Dr Niall Muldoon said that he is often invited to open new projects and services, but rarely has the opportunity to attend anniversary events.
“It’s an honour to come back to Better Finglas, after initially launching the project three years ago, to see how much innovative work and services had been provided,” he said.
Dr Muldoon surmised that we often know what it looks like for children and their families when agencies do not work together.
“But based on what I have seen in Better Finglas, we now have a clear of example what it looks like when agencies work together in a planned and meaningful manner,” he added.
Rebecca Moore, project leader with Better Finglas, outlined the seven examples of interagency work that had been put on display around the venue.
These are: Preparing for Life Community Midwife; Steps to School; Finglas Family Fun Day; Infant Mental Health Learning Network; Baby Stay and Play; Wizards of Word Literacy Programme; and Triple P Positive Parenting Programme.
This presented an opportunity for attendees to see examples of the services and programmes that can be developed and provided to the community by agencies working together in a more effective and meaningful way.
The celebration concluded with a delicious array of food and desserts kindly provided by Conor Sludds and his talented students from the Finglas Community Training Centre in Dubber Cross.
