Interventions are costly to implement, therefore in
order to derive the greatest benefits for children, while
simultaneously having a high rate of return for investors,
further research on the optimal time to intervene is
needed. New policy initiatives recently launched in Europe
represent a significant move towards investment in the
antenatal and early years period. The UK Government has
launched a large-scale pilot study of the Nurse–Family
Partnership which will recruit 1000 families in 10 areas
across England (UK Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Task
Force, 2007). In addition, similar experimental antenatal
interventions are taking place in France, Germany and
Italy, enabling an important cross-national comparison.
Finally, the first large-scale European childhood intervention
programme has been initiated in Ireland. The Irish
Government is co-funding, with Atlantic Philanthropies, a
series of childhood interventions, many of which will be
evaluated by randomised control trial. The programme is
characterised by a large number of interventions which
vary in terms of treatments, duration, and intensity.
However, unlike the US studies there is some comparability
across sites as the interventions are taking place
simultaneously, and with elements of a common measurement
framework. This enables a systematic comparison of
the relative merits of one form of intervention over
another. Importantly, as some of the interventions start in
the antenatal period and others at later stages of childhood,
this programme may shed light on the optimal timing
debate.