Sept 12, 2019:
More than 1,000 children and families were supported by the Tallaght West based Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) in 2018 – as highlighted in its latest Annual Report.
2018 was a productive year at CDI during which the core programmes ATTI, Chit Chat, Doodle Den, Doodle Families, Parental Support in Early Years and Restorative Practices (RP) continued to develop and reached out to a further annual cycle of children, parents, staff, young people, adults, schools, service providers and community organisations.
The year saw the launch of Tallaght Welcomes Breastfeeding, the Parenting Engagement and Relationship Toolkit (PEAR) and the broad expansion of Restorative Practices training.
In 2018 CDI launched the How is our Neighbourhood research, developed the Quality Services, Better Outcomes Workbook and provided more training and support on a consultancy basis.
CDI CEO Marian Quinn warmly thanked CDI’s core funder Tusla for its continued support in 2018, together with all those who participated.
“It is through engagement that our work comes to life. CDI would like to sincerely thank the children, parents, staff, young people, adults, schools, service providers and community organisations that worked with us in 2018”, she said.
The reach of CDI’s prevention and early intervention programmes in 2018 included:
- The Chit Chat therapeutic speech and language support offered to 71 children in three primary schools and nine Early Learning and Care Services in Tallaght West
- Doodle Den provided to 285 children in 19 sites across Tallaght, Dublin 5 and 7, Dublin Docklands and Limerick
- Doodle Families delivered to 165 children and their parents in 11 sites in Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Mayo and Donegal.
- Eight Parent Carer Facilitators (PCFs) delivered Parental Support in Early Years to 214 families in Tallaght West.
- RP training was delivered to almost 500 people including 48 young people, 136 parents and 314 service providers.
Training of RP Trainers was delivered in new areas of the country in Cork and Waterford. A new Summer Course manual was developed and courses expanded to Kildare, Cork, Sligo and Monaghan.
A major new project got underway with the Professional Development Service for Teachers, introducing an RP pilot project in 25 schools.
CDI further developed its training and consultancy activities into a social enterprise within CDI. Income generated will go towards sustaining CDI’s work into the future, and responding to new issues.
Key publications launched in 2018 included How is Our Neighbourhood: A Study of Community Engagement, Connectivity and Provision in Tallaght West and a Review of Policy in Support of Literacy Development in DEIS Schools.
CDI’s 2018 Annual Report can be viewed at: https://old.cdi.ie/about-us/annual-reports/
Further Information
Ronan Cavanagh, Cavanagh Communications: (086) 317 9731.