WorldForum 2008: 'Early Intervention and Prevention'

29th September - 1st October 2008
City Hall, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

Each year the International Forum for Child Welfare IFCW holds an international conference known as the WorldForum, which is co-hosted by one of its member organisations. The 19th WorldForum is being held in Cardiff, Wales and is being co-hosted by Children in Wales (www.childreninwales.org.uk). The broad theme of the WorldForum 2008 is ‘Early Intervention and Prevention’. Last year WorldForum2007 brought delegates from around the world together in New Dehli and the previous year in Canada delegates from 34 different countries attended.

What do we mean by Early Intervention?
Early intervention involves the identification and a programme of intervention (such as therapies, behaviour management, educational programme, community development programme etc) with individual children or young people, families or specific groups or communities. The children and young people may have difficulties in areas such as disability; behaviour (at home, in school and in the wider community); learning and mental and physical health; or may be at risk of maltreatment or exploitation. Typically the intervention is undertaken during the critical early phase of the difficulty. A challenge may be one that a child is born with or that develops during childhood or adolescence. Services might be provided for such individuals and their families in the early stages of the difficulty to lessen the effects of the condition or reverse its course. Programmes to support the development of children and young people’s resilience or empowerment to improve health and well-being are also important.

Early intervention can be curative or preventive in nature. Early intervention may focus on the child alone, on the child and the family together or on specific groups within the community. Services range from identification (e.g. social services, youth justice or school screening and referral services) to identification and direct intervention programmes.

Early intervention may also refer to programmes or initiatives, which are provided to children/young people/their families from the general population who are considered at risk of developing difficulties at a later stage of development. For example children living in areas identified as economically disadvantaged or recognised as socially excluded or marginalised may be identified as at greater risk of poor outcomes and extra support may be given to attempt to overcome this. In the context of the developing world, broader community development strategies are often used.

Different models of improving the health and well-being of children exist across the world. For instance the traditional model is where children and their families are seen as the problem and theimpairment or difficulty is focused on, rather than the needs of the child and their family. The power to improve outcomes for children and young people appears to lie with professionals and policy makers rather than involving children, young people and their families in decisions that affect them.

A more rights based model starts from the position of a child's right to belong to and be valued in the community. Using this model the strengths of the child with the impairment or other difficulty are focused on and the physical and social barriers that obstruct them, whether at school, college or in the home are looked at.

Why intervene early?
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child UNCRC gives children a right to: life (article 5); protection from abuse (article 19); special support if disabled (article 23); a good standard of health (article 24); education (article 28); protection from sexual abuse and drugs (articles 33 & 34); support if abused (article 39) and support if at risk of offending (article 40). These articles encourage state parties to take the necessary steps to ensure the provision of services and resources to prevent harm to the child and to ensure their optimum social, emotional and physical development.

Delays cause unnecessary distress, increase the risk of relapse (e.g. in mental illness) or worsening of the problem and are potentially harmful for the child, their family and wider community. Early intervention has been shown to improve the long-term prognosis of the individual child or young person.

If the child or young person is not given therapeutic support sufficiently early there may be greater disruption to the child’s family and may cause delays or problems with the child’s social, emotional and physical development and ability to build independence. Other problems may also occur or intensify and delays in treatment/support may lead to a slower and less complete ‘recovery’.

Early intervention can have a cost-benefit to the wider society. Highly specialised, comprehensive and intensive services which are necessary to produce the desired outcomes for the child and its family are often costly on a short-term basis but can have long-term cost savings. The child's increased developmental/educational/health/social gains and decreased dependence on family and support services, and perhaps the child's increased eligibility for employment, all provide economic as well as social benefits.