Reducing, inequality at a young age by investing in early chilhood education and care

Childhood is a unique period of human development, subject to many public policy interventions, and therefore is a critical period for preparing future generations to be social, productive, healthy and happy. There is a large body of evidence showing that the early years are crucial to people's development and impact on adults' social, economic and labor outcomes. In 2013, the European Commission published the Recommendation 'Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage', which presents Member States with policy guidance on multidimensional children's policies around three pillars: access to resources, access to quality services and child participation. The Recommendation outlines access to quality services as essential in the framework of multidimensional policies for children and recognises five types of services: - reducing inequality at a young age by investing in early childhood education and care; - improving education system's impact on equal opportunities; - improving the responsiveness of health systems to address the needs of disadvantaged children; - providing children with a safe, adequate housing and living environment; - enhancing family support and the quality of alternative care settings. The Recommendation provides good policy guidance, but it is essential that policy principles are translated into practice. This is why between 2013 and 2015, at the European Social Network (ESN) we have been working with a number of agencies to develop a series of questionnaires and map the implementation of children's services in 14 European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and The United Kingdom). This helped us to identify strengths and gaps to suggest proposals for improvement in line with the European Recommendation, which we gladly present in the report Investing in children's services: improving outcomes. The report consists of a short introduction to the methodology and the European context followed by a summary of trends in children's services across Europe. Next, the report describes the situation in 14 countries, including key policies, financing and governance arrangements. This is followed by a cross-country comparison of key issues in children's services in Europe. Finally, based on the input gathered through the questionnaires, the report makes recommendations regarding two to four key issues in children's services per country. For the Italian country profile, I was proud to work with ESN member the Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies (IRPPS) of the National Council for Research, which coordinated the answers to the questionnaire in cooperation with the Regional Department for Health and Social Policy at the Lazio Region, who is also a ESN member. I am also very thankful to the Institute for having taking this work further and publishing an extended version of Italy's country profile, which was launched at a seminar with key stakeholders in Italy. These activities are key to raise awareness about children's public policies in Italy and play a vital role in ensuring that the quality, coverage and further development of children's services are part of the political agenda.