Refer a Family
Aster Family Support’s office hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Our services hours are flexible and based on the needs of the families that we work with.

Self Referrals & Expression of Interest

In general, only the Household Assistance and Triple P programmes are open to families looking to refer themselves to Aster Family Support services. This can be done by completing an Expression of Interest form, or calling our office on (01) 516 1146 to discuss the programmes in more detail and registering an Expression of Interest over the phone. Once you have expressed interest in these programmes a Family Support worker will be in touch to follow up with next steps. We can only accept cases to the Household Assistance and Triple P programmes that fall under the remit of these services and from families based within the area where we work.

Referrals from Professionals

Referrals for Family Support, Triple P and Household Assistance are accepted from Tusla (the Child & Family Agency), public health nurses, school, CAMHS, GPs and other local health professionals, the local office of the Department of Social Protection, and other agencies working with families.

STEP 1 - ALL REFERRALS

Every referral received will be reviewed by a Manager within Aster Family Support and the referrer will be contacted by the manager to discuss the case and individual needs of the family. A request will be sent to Tusla clarifying whether the family currently has a case open to social work and this response will be recorded by Aster Family Support.

STEP 2(A) - Household Assistance, Meitheal & Triple P Referrals

Referrals accepted for Household Assistance and Triple P will be assigned to a Family Support worker at a weekly meeting and they’ll make direct contact with the family to start services or provide information on upcoming Triple P opportunities.

Referrals for Meitheal will be brought to the Aster Family Support weekly meeting and a Meitheal Support Worker will get in touch with the family directly. Referrals for Family Support that reference a Meitheal as a potential next step will first follow the referral process for Family Support services as below.

STEP 2(B) -Family Support Referrals

Referrals for Family Support will be brought to a monthly Allocations meeting. The Allocations meetings are chaired by the Principal Social Worker (for Prevention, Partnership and Family Support from TUSLA) and will include Family Support Coordinators, Aster Family Support, Meitheal Co-ordinators and the Youth Advocate Programme. The Allocations meetings are held once per month and allocate to the appropriate agency and service. Those cases allocated to Aster Family Support's programmes will be assigned a Family Support worker who will engage with the referrer and family to commence services. Aster Family Support will inform the original referrer where cases have been allocated to if they are allocated outside of Aster Family Support’s support programmes.

Aster Family Support is responsible for receiving all family support referrals for the HSE Dublin North area. The referrals will be screened and allocated during regular Allocations meetings following the process as outlined above.

Referral Process

Referral Partners

  • Public Health Nurse
  • Social Work
  • Psychiatric Services
  • Credit Union
  • Community Welfare Services
  • MABS
  • St. Vincent de Paul
  • Dublin City/Fingal Council
  • Home Help Organiser
  • Hospitals
  • CAMHS
  • Drug Clinics
  • H/S/C/L
  • Domestic Violence Support Services
  • Tusla Child and Family Agency
  • Family Resource Centres
  • Community Health Centres
  • Barnardos
  • Homeless Support Services
  • HSE Early Intervention Team
  • YAP
  • Education Welfare Services
  • Department of Social Protection
  • HSE Child Assessment Team
  • Primary Care Social Work
  • Duty Social Work
  • Daughters of Charity
  • SADT