Major research project looking at needs of families

Donegal Youth Service has launched a major research project looking at the needs of children and young people and their families in Donegal.

Donegal Youth Service and Donegal Children’s and Young People’s Services Committee are leading on the preparation of a Needs Assessment for the children and young people in Donegal from aged 0 – 24.

Lorraine Thompson, CEO of Donegal Youth Services commented “This is a significant project that will provide a baseline of information and data about the needs of our children and young people which will inform the work of the project partners and other stakeholders in the county for the next few years. We are working on hard on a very broad consultation directly with children and young people, their parents and carers, and with agencies and other organisations that work with children and families. We especially want to hear from the children and young people themselves and as well as holding a series of workshop in all parts of the county we have prepared a short survey for them to complete, and there’s a prize drawer with six €50 vouchers that will be drawn from all those that send a response to the survey. We also have a similar survey for parents and carers and we would urge everyone to take a few minutes to share their thoughts. We are determined that this work will be properly informed by the people that is for so that their voice is front and centre in the final report.”

Kate Wilkinson, Managing Consultant of Donegal based Aboutface Consulting Ltd. who are leading the project on behalf of Donegal Youth Service explained “There are three parts to the Needs Assessment – consultation with children and young people and their families, and groups, agencies and organisations that work and support them; the preparation of a County Profile that will bring together data and statistics that are relevant to children and young people and families in the county, and the third part is a review of published papers aligned to the consultation findings and the five national outcomes in the Young Ireland 2023 – 2028 strategy. We are delighted to be involved in this project which will be of such benefit to our home county.”

If you would like to share your views, please follow the link or use the QR code to access the surveys. There is a Prize Drawer for the children and young people’s survey with the chance to won one of six

For children and young people

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DNACYPSurvey

For parents and carers

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MNYTKWY

The project is funded through the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth What Works fund.

There are nine project partners: Donegal CYPSC, Donegal Youth Service, Donegal County Council, Donegal ETB, Inishowen Development Partnership, Donegal Local Development Company, Donegal County Childcare Committee, Foroige and Tusla.

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