The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, the National Children's Strategy Implementation Group (NCSIG ) and the Children's Services Committees (CSCs) have been leading an initiative to develop a planning model for national and local interagency working to improve outcomes for children. This is collectively known as the Working Together for Children initiative. The objective of the Working Together for Children initiative is to secure better developmental outcomes for children through more effective integration of policies and services.

The purpose of this document is to articulate the governance arrangements for the Working Together for Children initiative. This Governance Framework is derived from existing policy and legislative provisions, and from the consideration given by the National Children’s Strategy Implementation Group (the national group with responsibility for driving the Working Together for Children initiative at national level) to the following documents:
• Learning from experience to inform the future – Findings emerging from the initial phase of the Children’s Services Committees (Centre for Effective Services, 2010)
• Draft Paper Outlining Recommendations Relating to the Governance of Children’s Services Committees (Centre for Effective Services,2010)