In September 2025, CiNI responded to the Department of Health’s consultation on the Children and Young People’s Emotional Health & Wellbeing Framework. We welcome the ambition of the new Framework and recognise its potential to reshape services for the better. However, families in Northern Ireland have seen successive strategies promise change while waiting lists lengthen, inequalities widen, and trust in the system declines. From CiNI’s perspective, three priorities are essential if this Framework is to deliver more than aspiration:
Integration across Health, Education, and Social Care
Children’s emotional health and wellbeing cannot be separated from their learning, family life, or community context. The Framework must establish formal cross-departmental mechanisms with shared budgets, outcomes, and accountability as set out in the Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.
Clarity and consistency in diagnostic and needs-led pathways
Early intervention must be guaranteed regardless of diagnostic status, but diagnostic pathways cannot be neglected. Diagnosis remains vital for access to entitlements, educational supports, and the realisation of children’s rights. The Framework must ensure sufficient bridging provision is in place so that children are supported while awaiting assessments.
Sustainable investment and partnership the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS)
The VCS provides trusted, accessible, community-based support that often represents the ‘front door’ of support for families. Yet too often the funding to sustain these services is precarious and subject to government budgetary pressures. The Framework must embed VCS provision as a consistently commissioned core component, backed by multi-year funding and planned and sustainable workforce development. Examples from other jurisdictions show how community-based organisations can be resourced as equal partners in prevention and early intervention under the proposed model.
Read our full response here.
In September 2025, CiNI responded to the Department of Health’s consultation on the Children and Young People’s Emotional Health & Wellbeing Framework. We welcome the ambition of the new Framework and recognise its potential to reshape services for the better. However, families in Northern Ireland have seen successive strategies promise change while waiting lists lengthen, inequalities widen, and trust in the system declines. From CiNI’s perspective, three priorities are essential if this Framework is to deliver more than aspiration:
Integration across Health, Education, and Social Care
Children’s emotional health and wellbeing cannot be separated from their learning, family life, or community context. The Framework must establish formal cross-departmental mechanisms with shared budgets, outcomes, and accountability as set out in the Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.
Clarity and consistency in diagnostic and needs-led pathways
Early intervention must be guaranteed regardless of diagnostic status, but diagnostic pathways cannot be neglected. Diagnosis remains vital for access to entitlements, educational supports, and the realisation of children’s rights. The Framework must ensure sufficient bridging provision is in place so that children are supported while awaiting assessments.
Sustainable investment and partnership the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS)
The VCS provides trusted, accessible, community-based support that often represents the ‘front door’ of support for families. Yet too often the funding to sustain these services is precarious and subject to government budgetary pressures. The Framework must embed VCS provision as a consistently commissioned core component, backed by multi-year funding and planned and sustainable workforce development. Examples from other jurisdictions show how community-based organisations can be resourced as equal partners in prevention and early intervention under the proposed model.
Read our full response here.
