The final conference began with a ceremonial opening by the President of the university, followed by words of welcome from the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Dr Andreas Philippi, and the Federal Chairman of the Association for Interdisciplinary Early Intervention, Mr Jens Vandré. These high-calibre guests underlined the importance and innovative spirit of the project.

The conference was moderated by Denise Schulz, Chairwoman of the Specialist Association for Early Intervention in Thuringia. Ms Schulz is also closely involved in the project as a research assistant at the competence centre. The "Inclusive Early Intervention" project was recently awarded the prestigious German Early Intervention Prize, which emphasises its outstanding quality and importance.

In his welcome address, Jens Vandré emphasised the special nature of the concept: "Low-threshold preventative services are intended to facilitate the path to early intervention. Without the formal application procedures that have been necessary up to now, all services and specialists involved are coordinated across disciplines together with the parents with the aim of realising an overall system to strengthen the child and their entire living environment." This innovative approach has already triggered a wide range of discussions across Germany about the future organisation of interdisciplinary early intervention.

Jörg Backes, Deputy Director of the National Centre for Early Intervention in Cologne, emphasised in his speech the crucial role of early intervention alongside healthcare, youth welfare and pregnancy counselling for the successful development of children. He emphasised how the project breaks new ground and systematically promotes the involvement of all professionals and parents.

Prof. Dr Armin Sohns, Head of the Competence Centre, emphasised the historical relevance of the concept. Scientific findings on improving early help for young children and their families have been available for 30 years. The model project breaks with traditional structures and does away with application procedures and traditional funding via individual support units. This not only relieves the burden on parents, but also promotes the professional participation of agencies and experts to ensure joint assistance.

Participants at the conference had the opportunity to exchange ideas with staff from the Herzberg am Harz early intervention centre, which had trialled the pilot project, and to benefit from their practical experience. Jana Urbanek, research assistant at the competence centre, gave an impressive presentation of the concept and its effectiveness in practice using examples from families involved in the pilot project.

The highlight of the conference was the first public presentation of the results of the scientific monitoring. Prof Dr Liane Simon and Prof Dr Thorsten Bührmann from Hamburg used a wide range of data to show that the concept is effective in practice. It reaches significantly more children and parents at an early stage and strengthens them through brief offers of help and dialogue, which often makes long-term early intervention superfluous. The close cooperation with local paediatricians in private practice proved to be extremely successful.

The children benefited from a significant increase in social participation, more friendships and social contacts. The parents' assessment of the support provided was consistently positive, which emphasises the high level of acceptance of the concept.

The head of the Göttingen district authority, Manfred Fraatz, was impressed by the results and announced that the concept would be extended to all other parts of the district with the support of the competence centre. The state of Hesse has also expressed interest in a similar pilot project in Fulda, which met with great interest from the participants.

The heads of the early intervention centres in Duderstadt, Hann-Münden and Fulda welcomed the decision and are looking forward to breaking new ground in family-oriented early intervention in the future.

The Inclusive Early Intervention pilot project has shown that great progress can be made for the development of our children and their families through innovative approaches and interdisciplinary cooperation.