Some child-care professionals feel threatened by moves to help disadvantaged families to help themselves, a conference in Galway heard yesterday. Mr Robbie Gilligan, head of the department of social studies at Trinity College Dublin, was addressing an international conference on family support in disadvantaged communities, organised by the Western Health Board and NUI Galway.
He told the conference sports, good relationships with teachers, social activities, and helpful neighbours could make a huge difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and their families.
Children who went to a pre-school in Dublin's inner city were more likely to pass examinations years later than children who stayed at home, one study had shown, he added.
In an American study, unmarried mothers visited by a nurse for up to two years after the birth of their children were less likely than others to abuse their children, to commit crime or to be on welfare 13 years after the visits ended.
In general, most projects for supporting families show positive benefits for years, he said.
But some child-care professionals feel the importance of their own expertise is threatened by these findings. And those who provide this help were treated poorly, he claimed.
"When one looks at the pay and conditions of many who do the frontline work in family support - the family support workers, the workers in child-care centres and day nurseries and so on - one must be appalled by the low value put on their important work."
Fathers are a positive influence on the lives of their children even when not living at home, he said.
Most family support work is done with women but it is time to "take men out of the shadows", he said.
Mr Gilligan called for more recognition for the "tremendous" potential of schools to help disadvantaged children and families.
Even children with no great academic ability do better in later life if they had positive experiences at school, he said.
The children who survived serious problems at home tended to have support outside the home from teachers, relatives, sports leaders and other sources.
A primary aim of family support work, he said, was to "help to keep children in their own family by preventing the breakdown of relationships within the family to the point where the child wishes to leave for their own safety and welfare or where other responsible adults feel this is the best course".