Parents Plus Seeks Trustee with Governance Expertise

Parents Plus is seeking applications from skilled Trustees with Governance expertise

Parents Plus mission is to improve outcomes and well-being for children, adolescents and their families by empowering professionals to deliver our evidence-based parenting and mental health programmes through their services in local communities.  

Parents Plus vision is that families in need have access to proven and tailored tools from the services they turn to, in their communities, early on in their journey, improving their outcomes and preventing difficulties or crises arising.

To support delivery of our mission and vision, Parents Plus is seeking applications from skilled and motivated Trustees with Governance expertise, who can serve on the Parents Plus board to advise and guide the organisation to the next stage of its development in delivering lasting impact for services and families.

The successful candidate will have experience working in a Governance role, either in a commercial or public sector organisation, social enterprise or charity.

Commitment of Trustees

Trustees are expected to attend 5 -7 board meetings per year and to participate in various subgroups that may be established from time to time. While the Trustees are elected at the AGM each year, we envision that Trustees who become involved consider they are making a 3 to 5 year commitment to this position. As per the Charity Governance code, Trustees are voluntary appointments.

Application Process

You can apply to this rewarding and exciting role by:

1. Forwarding your C.V. and a statement of interest in the work of Parents Plus to the contact below.
2. C.V.’s will be reviewed by the CEO and the Chair of the board, and suitable applicants will be invited to interview for the position
3. Once a candidate is approved, he/she is invited to attend board meetings to observe with all contributions welcome during this period.  This trial period allows both the candidate and the Parents Plus board to decide if there is a good fit. At the end of this period, if both the candidate and the existing board members are happy, then the candidate is invited to become elected as a director at the next AGM. 

If you would like more information or an informal discussion relating to this post, please email Cherie Tyner, Interim CEO of Parents Plus, admin@parentsplus.ie 

Background – Parents Plus CLG – Parents Plus is a charity with over 25 years’ experience researching and developing evidence based parenting interventions for services supporting families. Parents Plus train and supervise professionals working in Community, Health, Education and Disability services, to improve outcomes for families, with their evidence-based Parenting and Mental Health programmes   Parents Plus also provides evaluation and implementation support to local agencies and teams over time, to build long-term family support capacity, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Backed by over 25 years of research, the Parents Plus portfolio of programmes have proven benefits for families, including those dealing with disadvantage, disability and mental health problems. 

The eight programmes are effective:

• Universally, for all families raising children;
• In prevention, for disadvantaged and at-risk families; and
• As interventions, for high need families dealing with complex problems.

Our Programmes comprise of:

• The Early Years Programme for parents of children aged 1 to 6.
• The Children’s Programme for parents of children aged 6 to 11.
• The Adolescents Programme for parents of adolescents aged 11 to 16.
• The Working Things Out Programme targeted at adolescents aged 11-16.
• The Parenting when Separated Programme targeted at parents who are preparing for, going through, or have gone through a separation or divorce.
• The Special Needs Programme to support parents who have an adolescent with an intellectual disability.
• The ADHD Programme to support families affected by ADHD
• The Healthy Families Programme to support healthy, active and positive family

The Parents Plus Programmes are developed in partnership with parents and children specifically including their individual experiences. 

There is a substantial body of evidence demonstrating the high impact of the Parents Plus Programmes in terms of improving outcomes for families, including reducing emotional/behaviour problems for children, alleviating parental stress, as well as improving children’s learning within the home. 

See www.parentsplus.ie for further details.

Organisation Structure

Parents Plus was established as a registered charity under the auspices of the Mater Hospital in 2001 (Charity No. CHY 13664) and a company limited by guarantee in 2013 (CRO 530105). 

The conduct of our organisation is governed by our Memorandum and Articles of Association. All profits from sales of programme training, supervision and materials are re-invested in 

• Developing new programmes in response to the evolving needs of families
• Sponsoring facilitator training for services with limited budgets and who work with high need families. 

Parents Plus also receives funding through a variety of grants and government bodies including An Pobal, TUSLA, Rethink Ireland, the JP McManus Benevolent Fund. Most recently, Parents Plus was one of four national charities awarded the Transformative Grant by RTE Toy Show Appeal and The Community Foundation for Ireland.

Parents Plus is governed by a voluntary board and run by a small team. Parents Plus has signed up to the Charity Governance Code.

See www.parentsplus.ie/about for details of the current trustees and key personnel