The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma : executive summary.
Date: 2019-05-03
Institutions: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture
Subjects: Roma, child, child care, cooperation in the field of education, disease prevention, early childhood, education policy, ethnic discrimination, health care, marginalisation, poverty, refugee, social services, socially disadvantaged class

The role and place of ECEC in 
integrated working, benefitting 
vulnerable groups such as Roma 
Executive Summary  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019 

ISBN 978-92-79-93552-7 
doi: 10.2766/432465 

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The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, 
benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma 

Please cite this publication as:  

Vandekerckhove, A., Hulpia, H., Huttova, J., Peeters, J., Dumitru, D., Ivan, C., Rezmuves, S., Volen, E., and Makarevičienė, A. 
(2019). ‘The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma’, NESET report, Executive 
Summary. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Doi: 10.2766/432465.  

ABOUT NESET 

CONTRACTOR: 

PPMI Group 
Gedimino ave. 50, LT - 01110 Vilnius, Lithuania 
Phone: +370 5 2620338 Fax: +370 5 2625410 
www.ppmi.lt 

Director: Rimantas Dumčius 

NESET is an advisory network of experts working on the social 
dimension  of  education  and  training.  The  European 
Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture 
initiated the establishment of the network as the successor to 
NESET 
(2007-2010)  and  NESET 
(2011-2014).  The  Public  Policy  and  Management  Institute 
(PPMI)  is  responsible  for  the  administration  of  the  NESET 
inquiries  please  contact  us  at: 
network.  For  any 
info-neset@ppmi.lt. 

(2015-2018),  NESSE 

II 

AUTHORS: 

  Ms. Ankie Vandekerckhove, VBJK (Centre for Innovation 

in the Early Years) 

  Dr. Hester Hulpia, VBJK (Centre for Innovation in the 

Early Years) and Ghent University 

  Dr. Jana Huttova, Member of NESET and self-employed 

consultant, researcher and expert evaluator 

  Dr. Jan Peeters, Ghent University 

  Ms. Alina Makarevičienė, PPMI 

AUTHORS OF THE CASE STUDIES: 

  Mr. Danut Dumitru, Roma Education Fund 

  Mr. Claudiu Ivan, Centre for Research, Education and 

Equality of Life Chances Association (Asociatia ACCEESS) 

  Ms. Szilvia Rezmuves, Partners for Democratic Change 

Hungary 

  Ms. Eugenia Volen, Trust for Social Achievement 

Foundation 

PEER REVIEWERS: 

  Dragana Avramov, Scientific Coordinator of NESET  

  Arianna Lazzari, University of Bologna 

  Szilvia Pallaghy, Open Society Foundation 

  Irma Budginaitė-Mačkinė, PPMI, Deputy Scientific 

Coordinator of NESET 

LANGUAGE EDITOR: 

  James Nixon, freelance copy-editor / proof-reader  

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The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, 
benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

While the benefits have been widely evidenced of high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) for 
young  children,  especially  those  from  vulnerable  groups,  it  is  clear  that  efforts  to  improve  the  holistic 
development and well-being of children and families must involve a wide range of policies, services and actions. 
No single intervention, service or sector on its own can hope to achieve sustainable improvements. There is a 
growing recognition  among researchers, policy makers and practitioners that policies  and services  need to 
become better integrated if they are to effectively address complex issues such as poverty and promote social 
inclusion.  Only  multi-dimensional,  aligned  and  integrated  responses  and  interventions  in  early  years  can 
address the complex and multi-faceted needs of all children and their families, especially those in vulnerable 
situations, such as families living in poverty, Roma families, or families in the contexts of migration or asylum. 

As a concept, integrated working covers a multitude of cooperative systems and models. It is context-specific: 
different models exist, starting from the specific needs of children and families, with different partners and/or 
sectors  involved  in  distinct  policy  settings.  Integrated  working  approaches  are  often  seen  as  a  continuum 
ranging  from  cooperation,  through  collaboration  and  coordination,  to  full  integration,  in  which  different 
services are united into a single organisation in order to enhance service delivery. A wide range of sectors and 
services can be involved in integrated working, depending upon the needs of children and their families. These 
include: early childhood education and care services;  preventive  health centres;  preventive  family support 
services; schools; out-of-school care; as well as services from the cultural sector (such as libraries, community 
centres). Integrated working can refer to specific types of integration (vertical integration, e.g. linking childcare 
to early education, with  both  being part of an integrated ECEC system); or it can go broader, linking ECEC 
provision to services in other sectors such as health or social services (horizontal integration). In this report, 
we consider integrated working to be  a form of professional cooperation within a network  or partnership, 
which provides a range of support services for families and children, accessible to all, in which families and 
children can participate and where parents are respected as first educators (Gordon et al., 2016). 

The  main  purpose  of  this  report  is  to  examine  the  added  value  provided  by,  and  the  prerequisites  for, 
integrated working – as well as the crucial role played by ECEC services – in order to better serve all families, 
but  especially  vulnerable  and  disadvantaged  children  and  families.  Separate  attention  is  devoted  to  Roma 
children and their families as one of the most vulnerable groups in Europe, often trapped in a vicious circle of 
poverty, exclusion and discrimination.  

The report is written for policy makers and professionals working in the field of early childhood education and 
care. It is guided by the following questions: 

  What services or functions should be involved in integrated working, paying specific attention to the role 

that ECEC can play?  

  What inspiring examples of integrated working already exist in Europe?  

  What  is  the  added  value  of  integrated  working  (for  children  and  families,  for  professionals,  for  policy 

makers) in general, and specifically for Roma?  

  What are the prerequisites for integrated working in general, and specifically for integrated working aimed 

at addressing the needs of Roma?  

The report focuses on different groups of vulnerable children and families – and, in particular, on Roma. It is 
based on a literature review and six case studies illustrating different ways of integrated working in a variety 
of contexts. Specifically, the case studies look at the Early Years Children and Family Centre in Newry (the UK); 
bridging professionals in Ghent pre-schools (Belgium); the Sprungbrettangebote in Berlin, which links refugee 

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The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, 
benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma 

centres  to  childcare  (Germany);  Sure  Start  Children’s  House  in  Porcsalma  (Hungary);  the  municipal 
kindergarten  network  in  Tundzha  municipality  (Bulgaria);  and  the  ‘Ready  Set  Go!’  project  (Romania).  The 
evidence from the case studies (Part II) frames and supplements the more theoretical part of the report (Part I). 
It serves as a basis from which to discuss the added value of, and prerequisites for, integrated working (covered 
respectively in Parts III and IV), and feeds into the report’s policy recommendations. 

Key findings  

Place of ECEC in integrated working  

  Integrated working aims to better serve all children and families, and especially vulnerable children and 
families, by responding to their multi-faceted situations and actual needs. It can render ECEC and other 
support services more accessible, as well as better known and understood. By making services better 
connected to one another, integrated working can help to avoid abrupt transitions from one service to 
another, and avoid overlaps in service delivery.  

  ECEC plays a crucial role as an essential partner or even initiator within the context of integrated working. 
ECEC services can fulfil a pivotal role in connecting children and families with services that can support 
them:  providing  adequate  referrals;  connecting  services  together;  cooperating  to  improve  service 
delivery; helping children and families to get to know other services; and making ECEC known to other 
services. It is vital that policies and services recognise parents as first educators, and work together to 
support them in a way that makes them feel appreciated instead of judged, and which addresses their 
actual needs.  

  This report identifies the existence across Europe of a wide range of diverse services and functions that 

could be combined or connected with ECEC. These include: 

- 
- 

- 

fully integrated centres, such as Sweden’s Family Centres and Sure Start centres in the UK; 
integrated collaboration and coordination, such as the Flemish Huizen van het Kind (‘Houses of 
the  Child’),  which  facilitate  cooperation between different partners in the  field of preventive 
family support; or the initiative of the Tundzha municipality in Bulgaria, which combines together 
services  and  uses  ECEC  as  a  portal  to  the  community  through  which  other  services  can  be 
delivered; 
integrated programmes and projects, such as the ‘Ready Set Go!’ project in Romania. 

  Furthermore, integrated ECEC systems and services should be based on support for children’s rights, and 
upon  a  commitment  to  promoting  universal  services,  rather  than  through  increased  targeting, 
conditionality and ‘temporary support’. Universal services do not exclude a targeted approach: within 
universal  services,  actions  can  be  developed  that  put  extra  effort  into  reaching  specific  groups,  and 
which are tailored to the needs of specific groups, without stigmatisation. 

Benefits of integrated working 

  Strong  evidence  exists  in  the  literature  and  from  case  studies  that  high-quality  ECEC  provision  which 
integrates  childcare  with  education,  health,  social  and  other  services  is  associated  with  improved 
cognitive and behavioural outcomes, and better health and well-being for children. This was also stated 
in the ISOTIS report on interagency working (Barnes et al., 2018).  

  Increasing evidence from Sure Start in the UK and Sure Start Children’s Houses in Hungary suggests that 
early support is of critical importance, and requires improved cross-sectoral integration. A comprehensive 

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The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, 
benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma 

system of early years intervention should be based on the needs of children and families. These include, 
for  example,  pre-  and  post-natal  health,  early  childhood  education  and  care  services,  and  preventive 
family support.  

  Integrated  work  at  the  service  level  can  have  a  positive  impact  on  children  and  families  in  terms  of 
improved access  and speedier  responses; better  and clearer  agreements on information sharing and 
communication between services; greater consultation on case planning; a more holistic approach; and 
seamless services. The case of the bridging professionals in Ghent preschools demonstrates that parents 
are positive about integrated working in early years, because they value greater accessibility and the 
smoother transition between services.  

  Evidence from the evaluation of projects such as ‘Ready Set Go!’ in Romania shows that when integrated 
working combines an expansion of the capacity of ECEC settings with an improvement in the institutional 
quality of ECEC services and the provision of support for parents and Roma empowerment activities, it 
can bring measurable  improvements in ECEC access and attendance  and easier transition to primary 
schools. 

  Evidence  from  projects  such  as  the  Sure  Start  Children’s  Houses  in  Hungary  and  from  regional-level 
initiatives such as in Tundzha municipality, Bulgaria, confirms that integrated working which focuses on 
early intervention, and which places ECEC at its centre, contributes to the strengthening of communities 
and the development of stronger local partnerships, and increases the social inclusion of Roma. 

  Integrated  working  is  beneficial  for  ECEC  organisations  and  professionals,  as  well  as  for  policies. 
Integrated working can reduce the duplication of efforts across sectors and maximise scarce financial, 
human and material resources at national, regional and local levels. Combined delivery and integration 
of services can improve efficiency and increase cost-effectiveness via synergies between interventions, 
as well as by promoting social inclusion. 

Key prerequisites for integrated working 

Integrated  working  must  always  start  from  the  needs  of  children  and  families  living  in  the  local  context.  It 
requires careful planning, commitment and enthusiasm on the part of partners, who may be required to deal 
with organisational, structural and cultural barriers, and to develop new skills and new ways of working. Based 
on the literature review and case studies, this report highlights four crucial prerequisites for integrated working: 

1.  A shared vision, starting from the needs of children and their families in the community. 

2.  A competent system with strong leadership and reflective staff. 

3.  Supportive policy and funding.  

4.  Family and community participation. 

The following conclusions and recommendations relate to these four key prerequisites. 

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benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma 

Conclusions and recommendations  

1.  A shared vision, starting from the needs of children and their families  

A shared vision at the national level 

A shared vision at the national level is a fundamental requirement for full cooperation  between the various 
sectors relating to early childhood development (health, social welfare, the educational system and services, 
employment, housing), in order to ensure the coherence and continuity of provision throughout the period from 
pregnancy to long after a child starts primary school.  It is important that the vision and, for that matter, the 
strategic plans and/or national policy frameworks, are discussed by all key stakeholders – policy makers across 
various sectors, service providers, parents and other actors – in order for them to become reality. This requires 
leadership, political will and commitment as well as the allocation of time, financial and human resources.  

‘Getting it Right for Every Child’ in Scotland, ‘Better Outcomes Brighter Futures’ in Ireland, ‘Every Child Matters’ 
in England and Wales, the Flemish decree on preventive family support (2014) regarding the Huizen van het 
Kind (‘Houses of the Child’), are all examples of landmark national policy frameworks for improving children’s 
well-being and promoting cross-sectoral collaboration and integrated working in early years.  

Recommendations: 

-  Policy  makers  should  develop  a  national  vision  on  early  childhood  which  is  shared  across  all 
relevant sectors. Such a vision (e.g. a national policy framework) should be based on children’s 
rights and respect for diversity, and should aim to integrate ECEC in its broadest sense, including 
health and well-being, childcare and education, social inclusion and equality.  

-  Policy makers and service providers need to allow sufficient time and resources to enable the 

dialogue and discussions necessary to support integrated working. 

A shared vision at the local and service levels 

Examples of integrated working from the Sure Start programme in the UK; the bridging professionals in Ghent, 
Belgium; the Sure Start Children’s House in Porcsalma, Hungary; and the initiative of the Tundzha municipality, 
Bulgaria, highlight that a shared vision at regional/local level and at the level of service provision is required 
to affirm the commitment of the relevant services to an integrated approach that promotes the best possible 
response to the needs of every child and family. In particular, this shared vision should include ECEC services 
(childcare as well as preschools); preventive  family support services; preventive  health services; and social 
services. Central to this shared vision should be a discussion of why and how the integration should take place.  

Recommendations: 

-  Regional/local  authorities,  service  providers  and  professionals  involved  in  early  years  services 
should discuss and agree a common vision and goals in order for integrated working to act in the 
best  interests  of  children  and  be  responsive  to  the  multi-dimensional  needs  of  vulnerable 
children and families.  

- 

Local authorities, service  providers  and professionals should clearly define  and agree  upon the 
roles and responsibilities of the integrated network, and of each service. 

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The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, 
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2.  A competent system with strong leadership and reflective staff  

Evidence from projects and initiatives such as Sure Start in the UK, Sure Start Children’s Houses in Hungary, 
bridging professionals in Ghent, Belgium, and from Tundzha municipality in Bulgaria, shows that integrated 
working cannot be considered the sole responsibility of individual professionals, but rather as a joint effort 
that involves the services of multi-disciplinary teams, training centres and local authorities. The ‘Ready Set Go!’ 
project in Romania further highlights the important role played by local NGOs and community organisations in 
the success of collaborative working.  

A competent system  

Research  evidence  further  suggests  that  implementing  integrated  working  on  a  large  scale  requires  the 
creation of competent systems to provide guidance and support, and to develop competences at different 
levels (individual, team, and institutional). This includes  the  creation of multi-agency teams, team learning, 
clear protocols and mandates, joint training, the sharing of expertise, frequent and regular information sharing, 
and reflective practice.  

Integrated working in a competent system also requires the creation of necessary structural conditions. These 
include the allocation of appropriate time and resources to developing a shared vision, and establishment of 
collaboration and trust among staff and  families, as well as the setting-up of actions to meet the needs of 
children and families. 

Recommendations: 

-  Policymakers should support the development of competent systems in early childhood education 
and care in order to provide guidance and support to professionals, facilitate service management, 
and enable service providers to develop the competences required for integrated working. 

-  Policymakers should create structural conditions to promote integrated working among services 

in various sectors. ECEC services can be used as an entry point for integration. 

-  Service  providers  and  management  should  facilitate  the  provision  of  time  and  resources  for 
integrated  working,  including  frequent,  meaningful  communication  among  services,  e.g.  by 
providing child-free hours to create time for reflective practice, team meetings, case reporting, 
exchanging experiences, training and coaching. 

-  Service leaders and staff should develop clear and transparent codes of professional conduct, 

including regulations on the sharing of information and data. 

Leadership 

Strong, engaged and inspirational leadership was a key prerequisite for success in all six cases included in this 
report  –  Sure Start in  Newry,  UK;  the bridging  professionals in Ghent, Belgium;  the  Sprungbrettangebote  in 
Berlin, Germany; Sure Start Children’s House in Porcsalma, Hungary; Tundzha municipality, Bulgaria; and the 
‘Ready Set Go!’ project in Romania. Such leadership is required at national, regional and local government levels 
to ensure  the coherence between services that is necessary to achieve common goals and move away from 
fragmented models. At the  service  level, this would involve  motivating, supporting, valuing, communicating 
clearly, clarifying expectations for everyone’s role, and maintaining their focus. Furthermore, the right people 
need to be in the right places – meaning that organisations should provide clear mandates to the professionals 
engaged in integrated working, and must ensure they are competent to function in those integrated settings. 

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The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, 
benefitting vulnerable groups such as Roma 

Recommendations: 

-  Policymakers  should  invest  in  developing  leadership  capacity  at  the  level  of  regional/local 
government  (including  mayors,  heads  of  department  responsible  for  early  years  services, 
designated coordinators); at the level of the integrated network (the network coordinator); and 
at the service level (leaders and senior management in ECEC, health, family centres etc.), in order 
to promote integrated working among relevant early years services. Specific training courses and 
seminars, networking and information sharing should be provided to enhance the competences 
of 
including  change  management,  promoting 
collaborative working, as well as inspiring and motivating integrated teams.  

leaders.  Leaderships  skills  are  required, 

-  Leaders at  the  service  level should  facilitate  and shape  the  preconditions for  cooperative  and 
integrated work in ECEC, promote mutual respect and solidarity, and foster democratic decision-
making. 

Reflective staff 

A more integrated working context requires well-qualified, experienced and competent staff with additional 
competences or attitudes such as the willingness to cooperate with others and reflect on one’s own practice; 
open-mindedness  to  shared learning; and an enabling, welcoming, participative  and inclusive  work  attitude. 
Professionals must also be equipped with skills in family and community engagement, in laying the groundwork 
for mutual respect, and in building relationships. Evidence from the literature review and from all six case studies 
highlights that in order to develop these skills, urgent investment is required to build capacity across services 
(including assistants, outreach workers and other support staff), and to systematically promote staff diversity.  

Recommendations: 

-  Preservice training institutions that prepare professionals to work in early years (ECEC, health, 
social care etc.)  should develop more joint courses,  engage in greater  collaboration,  and offer 
more joint internships.  

-  Policymakers should ensure policies and funding are in place to provide continuous professional 
development  opportunities  for  leaders  and  management  from  ECEC  and  other  services,  for 
teachers  and  other  professional  staff,  and  for  paraprofessionals  (e.g.  teaching  assistants, 
community  mediators,  bridging  professionals).  Integrated  training  courses  and  seminars, 
professional learning communities, as well as networking and mentoring, should be available to 
develop skills and competences on the central issues involved in integration, such as networking, 
cooperation and functioning within integrated services. 

-  Policymakers  should  develop  national  quality  standards  and  guidance  for  staff  on  integrated 

working.  

-  Policymakers  should  actively  promote  balance  between  the  qualification  requirements  for 
assistants  and  outreach  workers,  and  the  need  to  ensure  staff  diversity  and  community 
representation.  

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The role and place of ECEC in integrated working, 
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3.  Supportive policy and funding 

Supportive policy 

Integrated working requires firm political will and commitment at national and regional/local government levels. 
Examples from the bridging professionals in Ghent, Belgium; Tundzha municipality in Bulgaria; and other cases, 
suggest  that  collective  ownership  and  responsibility  across  policy  and  service  areas  is  required  to  promote 
coordination and integration between sectors. Furthermore, careful attention should be paid to the structural 
requirements: clear policy frameworks; effective governance and monitoring processes; and adequate funding 
and financing mechanisms. Programmes such as Sure Start in the UK and Sure Start Children’s Houses in Hungary 
highlight the need for integrated policies to focus on early years services and preventive family support, and for 
this commitment to be shared across all the services involved. 

Recommendations: 

-  Policymakers should develop broad policy and legislative frameworks for universal, inclusive 
and comprehensive ECEC systems that are based on children’s rights, and which promote an 
integrated, multi-sectoral approach to early years intervention and prevention.  

-  Policymakers  should  promote  a  progressive  universalist  approach  that  combines  universal 
policies  and  services  for  all  children  with  well-targeted,  well-coordinated,  cross-sectoral  and 
multi-professional  programmes  and  initiatives  to  increase  the  accessibility  of  these  services 
among vulnerable groups such as Roma.  

-  Policymakers  should  support  different  forms  of  integrated  and  high-quality  ECEC  services, 
including community-based programmes,  to ensure  that  they are responsive  to the specific 
needs of children and their parents.  

Adequate and sustainable funding  

The allocation of sufficient long-term financial resources is necessary for integrated policies and services to be 
effective and sustainable. Adequate funds are needed to ensure the continuity of services, staffing and support 
for staff, as is the allocation of adequate time. 

Due to restricted state budgets for ECEC, innovative integrated early years services often require a combination 
of funding from various levels of administration (national, regional and local government budgets). EU funds and 
other external resources (e.g. funding from donor agencies) have proved to be an essential element in ensuring 
appropriate funding for programmes and initiatives that focus on the inclusion of Roma, such as the Sure Start 
Children’s House in Porcsalma, Hungary, and the ‘Ready Set Go!’ Project in Romania. These examples highlight 
the need for EU funding instruments to be more explicitly directed towards investments in inclusive, accessible, 
high-quality and comprehensive early childhood services and integrated working. In particular, increased long-
term funding is required to promote integrated approaches to ECEC for all children and families, but is especially 
necessary to enable the extra efforts required to make services accessible to vulnerable and marginalised groups 
such as Roma. 

Recommendations: 

-  Policymakers  should  ensure  adequate  and  sustainable  funding  to  provide  resources  for  the 
time,  efforts and workforce necessary for integrated working in early years services (ECEC, 
health, social work, etc.). 

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-  Policymakers  should  provide  funding  to  ensure  secure  working  conditions  (such  as  wages, 
support and coaching, working hours, and an adequate child-adult ratio and caseload), in order 
to attract well-qualified professionals to work as part of an integrated approach to early years 
services (ECEC, health, social work, etc.). 

-  Policymakers  at  national,  regional  and local  government  levels  should  ensure  that  adequate 
funding  resources  are  allocated  to  promote  integrated  approaches  to  ECEC,  including  cross-
sectoral service provision, preventive family support, and community involvement.  

-  For  the  forthcoming  EU  funding  period  2021–2027,  early  childhood  should  become  an 
investment priority for EU funding instruments, and in particular for the European Structural 
and Investment Funds and Erasmus+. 

4.  Family and community involvement  

Family involvement and support 

The success of integrated working ultimately depends upon the quality of the reciprocal and equal relationships 
established between professionals and families, both at individual and at group level. Parents possess expert 
knowledge  of  their  children,  and  need  to  be  involved  as  such.  A  mutual  relationship  between  parents  and 
professionals  is  essential  to  ensure  better-quality  and  more  accountable  service  delivery.  The  Sure  Start 
Children’s Houses in Hungary, Tundzha Municipality in Bulgaria, and the ‘Ready Set Go!’  project in Romania, 
confirm that meaningful and respectful family involvement has a positive impact on children’s outcomes and 
upon families  as a whole.  Families, both children and parents, need to be  involved in  the  development and 
delivery of services, as well as in evaluation and monitoring. 

Recommendations: 

-  Policymakers should recognise the central role played by parents in their child’s development, 
and  thus  in  ECEC  services,  and  should  ensure  that  legislation  and  policies  are  in  place  to 
promote the active involvement of parents in ECEC, health, social care and other relevant early 
years services.  

-  All services  should develop a  policy on accessibility  and ways to  reach all families, including 

vulnerable families, using an integrated approach.  

-  Practitioners  should  work  towards  reciprocal  and  equal  relationships  with  parents, 
strengthening  parents  in  their  role  as  first  educators  and  experts  on  their  own  children. 
Practitioners should not take the parent’s place or decide for them.  

- 

Staff in integrated ECEC networks should exchange information about the children and families 
they serve (or should be serving). This should be carried out with due respect for data protection 
regulations, but with especial respect for the families themselves. 

Community involvement 

Active  community  participation  is  essential  for  services  to  become  more  responsive  to  community-specific 
needs. This is particularly important for vulnerable and excluded groups such as Roma, as it helps  to develop 
mutual trust between families and service providers – as documented in, for example, the Sure Start Children’s 
House  in  Porcsalma,  Hungary.  Community  engagement  can  help  services  to  respond  more  effectively  to 
children’s  needs,  with  greater  understanding  of  their  strengths  and  difficulties.  Evidence  from  Tundzha 

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Municipality; the bridging professionals in Ghent, Belgium; and the ‘Ready Set Go!’ project in Romania, confirms 
the findings of previous research: that outreach workers such as community mediators and health visitors play 
a  significant  role  in  bridging  the  gap  between  education,  health  and  social  services,  and  marginalised 
communities, particularly the Roma community and Roma parents. By building mutual trust and tapping into 
community  resources,  they  can  facilitate  an  approach  that  is  better  tailored  to  the  needs  of  specific 
communities.  

Recommendations: 

-  Policymakers  at  national  and  regional/local  levels  should  provide  the  resources  required  at 

community level to develop and support community-based integrated working.  

-  Policymakers  at  municipal  and  local  levels  should  engage  communities  in  planning  and 
designing  services  to  ensure  that  interventions  are  adapted  to  community  needs  and 
circumstances.  Outreach  programmes  should  be  put  in  place  to  connect  services  with 
communities. 

- 

Service providers and practitioners should develop innovative and flexible outreach strategies 
to engage with vulnerable children and families.  

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via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu); 

•  more than one copy or posters/maps: 

from the European Union’s representations (http://ec.europa.eu/represent_en.htm);  
from the delegations in non-EU countries (http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/index_en.htm);  
by contacting the Europe Direct service (http://europa.eu/europedirect/index_en.htm) or 
calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) (*). 

(*) 

The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). 

Priced publications: 

•  via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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ISBN: 978-92-79-93552-7