RTÉ One – Monday June 4th 6.30pm
As the saying goes “it takes a village to raise a child”.
But can two tight knit Irish rural communities help a pair of city teens get their lives back on track?
Two thirds of Irish children are raised in the city, where some families can find themselves living without the support of a strong community. Along with the usual teenage pressures, growing up in the busy urban sprawl can make city teens more stressed and difficult to live with. And some parents have reached breaking point!
Raised by the tells the story of two city families who need major help with parenting and are taking drastic steps to get it. In a last ditch attempt to rein in their rebellious kids, they’re each moving their troublesome teen to the heart of the countryside and allowing them to be raised by the village.
Under the guidance of one of Irelands top child psychotherapists, Stella O’Malley, the problem pair will get a dose of teenage life Irish village style but will the two teens learn to behave better when they’re part of a tight-knit community where the local adults keep a very close eye on what they get up to?
This brand new Irish TV format sees 15 Year Old Scott leave his home in the Dublin suburb of Kimmage to live with the Nixons; a farming Family in Carrigallen, County Leitrim – a village with one of the lowest crime rates in Ireland. Scott is a precocious maths prodigy who won a scholarship to a top private school but his mother Wendy, who parents alone, is worried that he’s wasting his talents and throwing away his opportunities. Can the community of Carrigallen help get Scott’s life back on track?
Meanwhile 15 year old Tallaght schoolgirl Leah relocates to the picturesque village of Kildorrery in the heart of Cork’s Ballyhoura Mountains. But can the phone-addicted, image-obsessive, willfully self-centred Leah learn a new sense of empathy and responsibility under the disciplinarian care of Kildorrery’s Hurley Family?
An immersive new take on TV parenting programmes Raised By The Village is for every Irish parent who’s ever wondered if raising their kids in a slower-paced, more community-centred environment might make a real difference?