Tulsa’s Prevention Partnership & Family Support (PPFS) Service

Prevention, Partnership and Family Support Programme

 Tulsa’s Prevention Partnership & Family Support (PPFS) Service.

The aim of the PPFS is to prevent risks to children and young people arising or escalating through early intervention and family support.

The best way to improve outcomes for children is to intervene at an early stage to try to resolve problems and prevent harm. A way this can be done is by working with parents and communities to support children at the earliest possible stage.

Meitheal and the Area Based Approach

Meitheal is a case co-ordination process for families with additional needs who require multi-agency intervention but who do not meet the threshold for referral to the Social Work Department under Children First. Practitioners in different agencies can use and lead on Meitheal so that they can communicate and work together more effectively to bring together a range of expertise, knowledge, and skills to meet the needs of the child and family within their community.

Meitheal is an old Irish term that describes how neighbors would come together to assist in the saving of crops or other tasks. In this context Meitheal is a National Practice Model to ensure that the needs and strengths of children and their families are effectively identified and understood and responded to in a timely way so that children and families get the help and support needed to improve children’s outcomes and realise their rights.