ABSTRACT
The best way to make children good is to make them happy. Courageous politicians realised that for Finland to survive it needed to invest in education, in children's health and the stability of families in local communities, and this long-term commitment has driven cross-party political policy. The best example of how Canadians are confronting a key challenge to best outcomes for children is their approach to the impact on the foetus of mothers drinking alcohol during pregnancy. They are persuaded by hard evidence that exposure to alcohol before birth is the single most important preventable cause of brain damage to babies. The impact on children by parents who drink has been exposed by reports from teenagers and from organisations including Community Care and Community Care Inform. The HELP programme shows practical examples of the mapping process to identify vulnerability by postcode, the data then being used to target new inputs.
