The DHS Early Intervention Research Directorate (EIRD) was established in response to the Royal Commission into the Child Protection System (2016 Nyland Report).
Recommendation 50 of that report outlined the role of EIRD as being to:
Prepare a Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy that is updated at least every five years:
- to identify service models that have proved effective or show promise in promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of children in South Australia;
- to serve as the basis of decisions by South Australian Government agencies to fund prevention and early intervention services;
- to form the basis of negotiations with the federal and local governments, with a view to coordinating funding priorities;
- Establish research partnerships and fund evaluations of innovative service models to determine their effectiveness and value for money; and
- Focus on the prevention and early intervention investment priorities identified in this report.