The European Social Network (ESN) publishes a short report with a selection of findings from our ongoing research project on the organisation of children’s services across a number of European countries.

ESN was a key stakeholder in the development of the European Recommendation 'Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage', and is contributing to its implementation with an analysis of the national legal and policy framework in 14 European countries focusing specifically on multi-dimensional children’s policies and services, and linking this dimension to other aspects such as family support and children’s participation.

To do so, ESN selected a member organisation with responsibilities in children services’ policy implementation from each of the 14 countries and prepared a questionnaire with the aim of gathering information about the legal and policy framework in each country, and compare national frameworks with the framework set in the European Recommendation.

In addition, ESN is organising three peer reviews bringing together a delegation from each country consisting of relevant stakeholders from national, regional and local levels, social services directors and providers from public and private sectors. The first peer review took place in 2013 and featured Ireland, France, Sweden and Bulgaria. The second peer review took place in 2014 and brought together representatives from five other EU countries: Spain, UK, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.

The interim report highlights a number of examples of how the policy principles contained in the European Recommendation have been implemented on the ground, particularly in regards to children’s services. The project will continue in 2015 with the analysis of children's services in five more countries: Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Romania.