Debate contribution: Early Intervention and Family Support Services: North Antrim
Debate contribution by Mr Philip McGuigan on .
- MLA
- Mr Philip McGuigan
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 26 May 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Early Intervention and Family Support Services: North Antrim
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5583483
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue and thank my constituency colleague Sian for securing the debate. Across North Antrim, families, practitioners and community organisations have highlighted the growing difficulties in accessing early intervention and family support services. As other Members have indicated, early intervention is critical. It can be the difference between a family coping and a family reaching a crisis point. It can prevent relatively minor challenges in childhood from escalating into significant difficulties in adolescence and adulthood. Sian and Jon indicated examples of such things. Early intervention strengthens resilience, reduces harm and supports children to thrive. Importantly, it is also one of the most cost-effective investments that any health and social care system can make, yet families across North Antrim increasingly report that support is becoming more difficult to access and navigate. Waiting lists are growing longer, services are becoming more fragmented, and too many families are at risk of falling through the cracks. There are significant concerns regarding the availability and location of early years services across the constituency. North Antrim includes a large rural population for whom access is already constrained by distance and limited public transport. That exists alongside areas of deprivation where families face multiple and overlapping challenges. In many rural parts of the constituency, such as Ballycastle, Bushmills, Armoy and the glens, families are often required to travel significant distances to access support services, frequently with limited or unreliable public transport options. For parents of young children, particularly those who are already under pressure, that can become a barrier in itself. For early intervention to be effective, support must be accessible at the point at which it is needed. Programmes such as Sure Start have been highly effective at identifying needs at an early stage, as others have indicated. However, those services are available only in certain parts of the constituency, creating what many families describe as a "postcode lottery" in accessing early years support. I acknowledge the work carried out by organisations such as Dalriada Rural Sure Start, the local family support hubs and the many community and voluntary organisations that work across North Antrim. Their staff and volunteers make a genuine difference every day, but many of those services continue to operate under significant pressure and uncertainty.
While I welcome the development of the new, targeted outreach model for families who live outside designated Sure Start areas, its long-term impact remains to be seen.
I also want to acknowledge the vital role that is played by GPs, health visitors and schools in identifying the early signs that additional support could be required. They are often the first to recognise when a child or a family are beginning to struggle. I share their frustration and the frustration of families when support for those early concerns leads to an uphill battle to access assessments and services. Parents across North Antrim repeatedly raise concerns about delays in accessing autism assessments, speech and language support and child and adolescent mental health services. Those delays can have a profound impact, not only on the child's development but on family well-being and confidence. Community and voluntary organisations are also doing commendable work in bringing family support directly into local communities, but they cannot be expected to compensate for gaps in statutory provision. Families who are experiencing stress, isolation and financial hardship are finding that services are increasingly overstretched. Children who require additional support are often left behind for prolonged periods, falling further behind in school or struggling with mental health, frequently without fully understanding why they feel the way that they do or how to manage it. The consequences of delayed intervention are entirely predictable. When early intervention is delayed, problems escalate and pressures intensify. When services are fragmented, as has been said, families fall through the gaps, so we need early intervention. Every child deserves the opportunity to grow up safe, supported and able to reach their full potential. Every family deserves access to help before they reach crisis point. The evidence is clear: early intervention can change lives, and it should not depend on where a child happens to live, whatever part of North Antrim they live in. That support must be available consistently across North Antrim and the North.
708 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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