Leadership for Inclusion: Moving from Fragmented Services to Integrated Support for Children and Families

Integrated early childhood systems are widely recognised as essential for supporting young children and families, particularly those facing poverty, exclusion, or complex challenges. Yet in many countries, services remain fragmented across education, health, social protection and family support sectors, leaving families to navigate complicated systems on their own.

This challenge was at the centre of the recent ECOS thought leadership event on June 10th | Leadership for Inclusion in Early Childhood: Modelling Cross-Sectoral Collaboration, which brought together policymakers, researchers and practitioners from across Europe to explore what it takes to move from agreement on integration to action.

The problem is not a lack of good intentions

Opening the discussion, Arianna Lazzari highlighted a persistent contradiction. Research consistently shows that high-quality early childhood education and care benefits all children and families, particularly those experiencing disadvantage. Yet children at risk of poverty and social exclusion remain significantly less likely to access these services.

The reason is not a lack of commitment from professionals. Rather, families often encounter multiple barriers when trying to access support, including bureaucratic procedures, language barriers, fragmented services and fear of stigma. Too often, the responsibility for coordinating support falls on families themselves.

Speakers argued that inclusive systems require a fundamental shift in perspective. Instead of expecting families to adapt to services, systems must be organised around the needs of children and families. This means education, health and social services working together rather than operating in isolation.

Leadership beyond individual institutions

A recurring theme throughout the event was that leadership for inclusion cannot be confined to individual organisations. It must operate across systems.

Drawing on experiences from Romania's Primokiz programme, Carmen Lica described how local governments were placed at the centre of efforts to coordinate education, health and social protection services. Bringing professionals, decision-makers, parents and community stakeholders together around a shared vision helped communities identify local needs, develop integrated strategies and align resources accordingly.

The process required leaders to move beyond traditional top-down approaches and create structures that encouraged collaboration across sectors and professions. While challenging, this helped drive lasting changes in how communities approached early childhood services.

Similar lessons emerged from Germany, where family centres have been developed as local hubs connecting early childhood services with wider family support. Sandra Fischer stressed that successful collaboration depends on more than goodwill. Legal frameworks, sustainable funding and clearly defined coordination responsibilities are essential if integrated approaches are to become part of everyday practice rather than isolated projects.

Breaking down silos requires structural change

Across the discussion, speakers identified common barriers to collaboration. For example, governance structures often place responsibility for children across multiple ministries and departments with different priorities, funding mechanisms and regulations. Professionals work within different cultures and use different languages to describe children's needs. Funding is frequently short-term and project-based, making it difficult to build sustainable partnerships.

Anne Lambrechts argued that collaboration is often expected without the necessary conditions being put in place. If organisations are expected to work together, they need dedicated time, funding and formal mandates to do so. Without these, cooperation remains dependent on individual champions rather than becoming embedded within the system.

Several speakers also emphasised the importance of practical tools that support collaboration, including shared information systems, agreed protocols and structures for joint decision-making.

Mathias Urban argued that integrated systems require strong coordination at the highest levels of government, supported by stable, multi-year funding and legal frameworks that move beyond policy aspirations. He stressed that collaboration cannot depend on annual funding cycles or isolated projects. Sustainable integration requires structures that exist at every level of government, from national ministries to local authorities, supported by accountability mechanisms and feedback loops that connect local experiences with policymaking.

From strategy to action

One of the most practical discussions focused on a common challenge: what happens when everyone agrees collaboration is needed, strategies have been written, meetings are taking place, but little changes for families?

The panel's responses pointed to a consistent message. Moving from agreement to action requires clear coordination structures, political commitment, defined responsibilities, implementation plans with budgets, and mechanisms for accountability and feedback.

Families themselves must also play a central role. Rather than being treated solely as service users, they should be involved as partners in designing, implementing and evaluating solutions.

The speakers repeatedly returned to the importance of trust, shared language and relationship-building. Professionals from different sectors may share the same goal of supporting children, but they often approach problems from different perspectives and operate under different systems. Creating opportunities to learn together, build common understanding and develop shared ways of working was identified as a critical part of successful collaboration.

The discussion concluded that integrated support is not primarily a technical challenge. The evidence exists, and the commitment often exists as well. The real challenge lies in creating leadership that can build relationships, foster trust, coordinate across sectors and ensure that children and families remain at the centre of decision-making. Achieving this requires more than cooperation between services. It requires leadership that can connect systems.

Speakers:

• Géraldine Libreau, Policy Officer for Early Childhood Education and Care at the European Commission and Chair of the European Commission's ECEC Working Group (Moderator)
• Arianna Lazzari, Associate Professor at the University of Bologna and lead author of the Leadership for Inclusion report
• Carmen Lica, Director and Founder of the Step by Step Center for Education and Professional Development (Romania)
• Sandra Fischer, Research Associate at the University of Bonn
• Anne Lambrechts, Founder and Coordinator of Elmer (Belgium)
• Mathias Urban, Desmond Chair of Early Childhood Education and Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre at Dublin City University (Ireland).

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