Pressures on families over commuting and access to affordable childcare are among the factors leading to unprecedented demand for support from State-funded family resource centres.
The Family Resource Centre's national forum, which launched a three-year strategy yesterday, said the State's 90 centres were now the main vehicle for delivering support to families in need.
The centres offer a range of supports aimed at combating disadvantage and enhancing the function of the family unit such as homework clubs, pre-school facilities, welfare advice, counselling and parenting advice.
Forum chairman Packie Kelly said the growth in the number of resource centres was in response to a range of factors.
"The emergence of family resource centres over the past decade is a direct response to the growth in diversity of the family unit in terms of size, structure and needs. It is also a response to the pressures that face families in terms of commuting to work, accessing childcare and participating in training and education."
The strategic plan sets out areas of growth and policy development which the forum says will provide resource centres with a much stronger voice at local and national level.
Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan said the target set under the National Development Plan to fund 100 family resource centres would be met by the end of this year.
