This week it unveiled a series of proposals after ministers concluded that too many children were ending up in the country's children's hearings system because agencies were "not taking effective action early enough".
It wants to relieve the pressure on children's hearings, which deal with children who have welfare needs or who are referred for offending, so they can concentrate on more complex cases.
Maggie Mellon, director of children and family services at charity Children 1st, said children in need often ended up offending, and that the system should continue to handle both types of cases.
The Executive's plans for the children's hearings system include more frequent appearances for persistent young offenders. Education minister Peter Peacock said: "Repeated offences will mean repeated responses."
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