Citation
Barnardos. (1994). Barnardos Annual Review 1994. https://knowledge.barnardos.ie/handle/20.500.13085/837
Abstract
With a great deal of change taking place, or expected, in several significant aspects of the child care environment it is important for an organisation like Barnardo’s to assess how it needs to adept to meet new challenges. Since we seek to ensure we are at all times professional, relevant and effective, earlier this year we implemented the findings of an intensive review of our operations with a view to securing our future viability and effectiveness. This involved several significant changes of direction, scale and internal structure and regrettably
involved job losses. Losing staff who have given a great
deal to Barnardo’s in terms of their skills and their
commitment has been painful, but we have had to
reconcile this with the achievement of greater stability
and the opportunity thus afforded to embark on new
developments. As a result of these changes we expect to
extend the range of our child care services, expenditure
on which will increase as a proportion of our total
budget.
Barnardo’s has reaffirmed its commitment to work in a
number of areas of Dublin, providing a more integrated
range of family support services to vulnerable children
and their families. Outside Dublin we have entered into
partnerships with the Midland and Mid-Western Health
Boards to provide family support services in Edenderry
and Limerick city respectively, both of which will
commence in Autumn 1994. We also expect to establish
in the near future a bereavement service for children
following extensive consultations with relevant bodies
and groups. The establishment of the National
Children’s Resource Centre in 1993 has extended our
capacity to provide information and training to
individual professionals, statutory and voluntary bodies
and to community groups.
Looking to the future, having strengthened our internal
planning and evaluation processes, we envisage that we
will be extending our services with regard to
geographical area, age range and target group, in
consultation with appropriate bodies. Our funding
strategy will involve the achievement of higher levels of
statutory support, increasing fundraising income and
the development of new funding sources. We will be
continuing to strengthen our relationships with other
voluntary child welfare organisations as evidenced by
our active participation on Focus On Children; the
Children’s Rights Alliance and the European Forum for
Child Welfare.
The development of Barnardo’s relations with health
boards and other voluntary and statutory organisations
with a concern for the welfare of children has
demonstrated to us the value of an open, flexible and
constructive approach and has reinforced our conviction
that the most effective means to achieve the best
outcomes for children is through co-operation. Realism
suggests that the child care developments currently in
the offing will, no matter how effective they are, still
leave many children in need. Combining this realism
with a firm commitment to make a difference to these
children’s lives points to the value of working together
to articulate a shared vision of how our society might
provide for our most vulnerable children in the future. If
this could be achieved the goodwill, commitment and
resources of all participants, whether statutory or
voluntary could be harnessed towards the realisation of
this vision. Such a goal might seem at best ambitious, at
worst naive. Considering the potential outcome should
be sufficient grounds to at least make the attempt.