At National College of Ireland, we are proud to support our Early Learning Initiative (ELI) team as they prepare for National Home Visiting Day which is taking place on Friday, October 11th, 2024.
The Home Visiting Alliance (HVA) was established in November 2020. The HVA is a collaboration of five Irish evidence-based early childhood home visiting programmes. These groups collaborate to support parents and children throughout Ireland. Last year, the HVA programmes supported 4,500 children across Ireland with 65,000 home visits.
National Home Visiting Day is a special day that recognizes the critical role home visiting programmes play in supporting families across local communities. Home visiting is a vital form of early intervention and prevention, offering a "no wrong door" approach to connecting families with the support they need.
The HVA will host an online celebration with Joanne McGarry, Parenting Support Policy Unit, DCEDIY and special guests from around the country. Local celebrations will also take place in homes and communities across Ireland to mark the occasion and The Prevention and Early Intervention Network (PEIN), Tusla’s Prevention Partnership and Family Support, and the National Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme are proud to celebrate ten years of transformative work in child and family services.
ELI is delighted to share that the online celebration is open to all.
It will take place on Friday, October 11th, 2024, at 10am-11am.
This online event follows two Home Visiting launches that took place last week. The first was the Community Families Programme which will run here at National College of Ireland. The second included two pieces of research: The Economic Case for Home Visiting In Ireland - PEIN and a review by Maynooth University- Home Visiting: A national vision for the future - PEIN.
NCI’s Early Learning Initiative Area-Based Childhood 0-2.5 Years Programme aims to provide an integrated programme of intervention and support for children, their parents and families from pre-birth to two years of age, with the main focus being a home visiting service to support and nurture the relationship with children, parents and families. The programme aims to improve children's overall development through the empowerment of parents and is designed to focus on nutrition, health care, and overall child development. On a weekly basis, for up to an hour, families will be visited in their homes by our trained Home Visitors. As the child becomes older this may move to once a month. The Home Visitors work with the family to strengthen the parents’ skills and build self-esteem, to enable them to believe in their own capabilities and parenting skills. A weekly report is written by the Home Visitors to record the child’s development.
Learn More About the Programme and Other ELI Services by Visiting ELI’s Homepage.
We hope that you will take part in, and enjoy the National Home Visiting Day celebrations, and be sure to tag @earlylearninginitiative so the wonderful ELI team can see. At National College of Ireland, we are looking forward to taking the time to connect with members of the community to celebrate the immense work that is being done to support families through home visiting.
#ChangingLivesThroughEducation