Meitheal is an old Irish term that describes how neighbours would come together to assist in the saving of crops or other tasks. In this context Meitheal is a National Practice Model to ensure that the needs and strengths of children and their families are effectively identified and understood and responded to in a timely way so that children and families get the help and support needed to improve children’s outcomes and realise their rights.

The Meitheal Toolkit is intended for use by practitioners using Meitheal – A National Practice Model for all agencies working with children, young people and their families. It provides direction, guidance and advice on all stages of the Meitheal process and as such can be used as a roadmap for undertaking a Meitheal effectively.

The toolkit is a practical resource that will:
• inform and guide practitioners through the Meitheal process;
• provide direction, advice and guidance on how best to undertake the Meitheal process;
• provide support and guidance to Lead Practitioners to undertake their role effectively in the Meitheal process;
• identify how to store and share information safely as part of the Meitheal process;
• provide Meitheal documentation and guidance on how to complete Meitheal Forms;
• provide guidance on facilitating meetings as part of the Meitheal process.

The Meitheal Toolkit has been developed as a resource that practitioners can use either in its entirety to get an overall understanding of the Meitheal process and how it works in practice, or that practitioners can dip in and out of in accordance with the stage of the Meitheal process they are currently working on. The list of Contents is a useful tool to aid your navigation through the toolkit. The toolkit is also designed in order to be located online on the Tusla website (www.tusla.ie). For this reason, when you are reading it in the form of one complete document, you may find some repetition.