STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD: IRELAND 2006 Towards a better understanding of children’s lives Anne-Marie Brooks 28 th June 2007

BACKGROUND (1)  Commitment given in the National Children’s Strategy  Compiled by the Research Division, Office of the Minister for Children in association with:  The Central Statistics Office  The Statistics Division of the Department of Health and Children  The Health Promotion Unit, National University of Galway, Ireland  Range of reviewers of single indicators from policy, research and service provider areas

BACKGROUND (2) 1.A background review of indicators sets in use elsewhere and the compilation of an inventory of key indicators, domains and indicator selection criteria; 2.A feasibility study of the availability of national statistics to construct the indicators identified in the previous step; 3.A study on Children’s Understandings of Well- Being; and 4.A consensus process referred to as a Delphi technique, where participants on ‘a panel of expertise’ agreed indicators for use in the Irish context.

PRINCIPLES  Go beyond basic survival in its representation of well-being  Focus on positive as well as negative aspects of children’s lives  Take account of the experience of childhood in itself  Include some of the new domains of child well-being

SELECTION CRITERIA  Comprehensive coverage  Children of all ages  Clear and comprehensible  Positive outcomes  Forward-looking  Rigorous methods  Geographically detailed  Cost-efficient  Reflective of social goals

AIM OF THE REPORT  Describes the lives of children in Ireland  Tracks changes over time  Benchmarks progress in Ireland relative to other countries

STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT (1)  Executive Summary  Introduction  Section 1: Socio-demographics  Section 2: Children’s relationships: - Parental relationships - Peers relationships  Section 3: Children’s outcomes: - Education - Health - Social, emotional and behavioural  Section 4: Formal and informal supports  Index

STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT (2)  Context  Significance  Findings: description according to: – gender, – Age, – Geography, – Social class, – International comparisons  Technical notes  Access further information

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD KEY FINDINGS

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Socio-Demographics  % population under 18 years: 25% in 2005  % children in lone parent families: 14% in 2004  Infant mortality rate: 4.8 per 1,000 in 2004  Child mortality rate: 4.6 per 10,000 in 2004

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Children’s Relationships IRELANDRANKWHO AVERAGE % of children (10-17 years) with three or more friends st / % of children (10-17 years) bullied in the last couple of months th / % of children (10-17 years) who find to easy to talk to their mothers th / % of children (10-17 years) who find to easy to talk to their fathers th / Source: HBSC, 2002

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Children’s Health Outcomes  5.4% babies born at low birth weight (2003)  Breastfeeding initation rates of 44.5% (2003)  Youth suicide accounted for 22% of all deaths in the year age group (2004)  1,425 substantiated notifications to the Child Protection Notification System (2004)

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Children’s Educational Outcomes ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF 15 YEAR OLDS IRELANDRANKOECD AVERAGE Reading scores5155 th /29494 Mathematics scores50216 th /29500 Science scores50513 th /29500 Source: PISA, % children absent from school from primary school for 20 days or more

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Children’s Social, Emotional and Behavioural Outcomes IRELANDRANKESPAD AVERAGE % reporting binge drinking at age 15 years 573 rd /3340 % reporting illicit drug use at age 15 years 403 rd /3622 Source: ESPAD, 2003

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Children’s Social, Emotional and Behavioural Outcomes IRELANDRANKOECD AVERAGE % reporting being physically active at least 4 hours per week (11, 13, 15 years) 50.72nd/ % reporting daily smoking (aged 11, 13, 15 years) 6.7%25th/357.4 Source: HBSC, 2002

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Formal and Informal Support  22.4% of children under 18 at risk of poverty (2004)  17,517 children 7-17 years referred to Garda Juvenile Liaison Programme (2005)  5,060 children and young people in the care of the Health Services Executive (2004)

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD KEY CONSIDERATIONS

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Key Considerations  Indicators need to be available over time;  International comparisons are needed;  Information on subgroups is needed;  Information on local services is needed;  Regional-specific data are crucial; and  A high level of disaggregation is needed.

WELL-BEING INDICATORS Indicators need to be available over time Decrease in infant mortality rate: 4.8 per 1,000 in per 1,000 in 2000

WELL-BEING INDICATORS International Comparisons are needed Eg: infant mortality rate: Ireland: 4.8 per 1,000 in per 1,000 in 2000 Sweden: 3.1 per 1,000 in 2004 EU-25: 4.0 per 1,000 in 2004

WELL-BEING INDICATORS Information on sub-groups is needed Eg: SIDS infant mortality rate: Irish children: 0.7 per 1,000 in 2002 Traveller children: 8.8 per 1,000 in 2002

WELL-BEING INDICATORS Information on services in needed  22,335 households with children needing social housing. This represents a decrease of 24% since 2002 (2005)  17,517 children 7-17 years referred to Garda Juvenile Liaison Programme (20% as a result of alcohol related offences) (2005)  In April 2006, 1,761 children were known to be on a hospital waiting list for treatment. 40% of these children were on the hospital waiting list for 3-6 months and 26% for one year or more.

WELL-BEING INDICATORS Regional-specific data are crucial  Public health nursing home visit within 48 hours for newborn babies ranged from 59% in ERHA to 95.5% in WHB (2004 data)

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD NEXT STEPS

STATE OF THE NATIONS CHILD Next Steps  State of the Nations Child Report 2008  Investment in new, and improvement of existing data sources  National Data Strategy for Children

Office of the Minister for Children Department of Health and Children Hawkins House Dublin 2 Phone: (01) State of the Nations Child Report 2006 can be downloaded from: