Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 21 Nov 1996

Vol. 471 No. 8

Adjournment Debate. - Emergency Accommodation for Children.

Mr. Flood

I thank the Minister for coming into the House to deal with the issue. Recent newspaper reports that children are being placed in hospitals in Dublin because there are no suitable residential care places available for them are alarming. There are no suitable foster care places available either, or at least not in sufficient numbers to meet the current need. Children placed in hospitals are there for social reasons, not because they are ill. They are placed in hospitals because of the failure of the Government to meet its responsibilities under the law for children who need emergency accommodation or emergency foster care accommodation.

The Child Care Act, 1991, stipulates clearly that it shall be the function of the health board to promote the welfare of children in its area who are not receiving adequate care and attention. This has clearly not happened in recent cases.

The weekend newspaper reports that three children in need of emergency care were allegedly placed in Cherry Orchard Hospital and while there contracted infectious illness is very disturbing. The children concerned are all under ten years of age, and they contracted chickenpox while in the hospital which is an infectious diseases hospital. They were brought there by social workers who had taken the children into care but could not find any proper residential or foster care for them.

This is a disgraceful situation which raises serious questions. It reflects a crisis and is probably only the tip of the iceberg. Apparently it has been reported that five other children were in emergency care in Cherry Orchard Hospital for one week. It is also suggested that in 1995 up to 50 children were placed in one hospital for social reasons, that is, because there were no emergency care places available. In some cases it is suggested that children remained in hospitals, inappropriately placed, for up to five months.

The situation has been described by the Assistant General Secretary of IMPACT, the trade union representing social workers, as a mess. The Child Care Act, 1991, places responsibility on the Minister and through him the various health boards, in this case, the Eastern Health Board for the provision of adequate child care facilities, including the need to provide emergency accommodation for children out of home. Social workers are being put under intolerable strain seeking emergency accommodation. They are utilising most of their valuable time going from one place to another seeking emergency accommodation which is clearly not available. They should be spending their time dealing with the factors that give rise to children coming into the care of the health board rather than trying to locate suitable accommodation for them.

In the 1995 Child Care Action Plan, it was stated that children's residential care facilities were to be provided by the Eastern Health Board at Kilbarrack and in Dublin's north inner city. Has this happened and, if so, how many additional places have been provided because of the provision of those two facilities? The board was also to recruit additional foster care parents. Has this happened and, if so, how many additional foster care parents are now available to the service?

In the 1996 plan which the Minister also announced in addressing the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Family, he referred again to facilities of this kind being provided. Is the Minister not referring to the same facilities on each occasion, because a problem continues to exist?

The Minister will agree that when a child comes into care it is usually as a result of a traumatic situation, and the last thing the child needs is to be shunted from one location to another in an effort to find suitable accommodation. What these children need is proper accommodation and staff with the professional qualifications to meet the needs of vulnerable children when they come into the care of the health board. They may have been abused, neglected or exposed to circumstances which lead to a traumatic situation. They need every support they can get rather than to be placed in the care of social workers who are unable to find appropriate accommodation for them.

I understand that 3,200 children are in care and that in the Eastern Health Board area there are 1,400 children in care, 1,000 of whom are in foster care. Many of those in foster care do not have a social worker assigned to them to meet their needs and track their progress. This is a serious matter and will have to be addressed.

We are informed by those working with children in the circumstances to which I have referred that serious situations will develop if we do not provide emergency accommodation for them. I sincerely hope that will not happen and that the Minister will be able to inform us about providing the essential accommodation to meet the emergency needs of children who, for one reason or another, can no longer reside in their home settings.

Mr. Currie

I am pleased to have this opportunity to inform the House of the position in relation to residential and foster care requirements for children in the Eastern Health Board area and I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter.

The Child Care Act, 1991, places a duty on health boards to promote the welfare of children in its area who are not receiving adequate care and protection. Section 4 of the Act states:

Where it appears to a health board that a child who resides or is found in its area requires care or protection that he is unlikely to receive unless he is taken into its care, it shall be the duty of the health board to take him into its care under this section.

In circumstances where it is necessary for a health board to take a child into its care, on an emergency basis, immediate steps are taken to secure an appropriate residential or family placement for the child. I recognise that occasions may arise where appropriate accommodation or care facilities are not immediately available to the board. In these circumstances alternative arrangements must be made to ensure the safety of the child.

From time to time social admissions to hospitals are made by gardaí, health board personnel and others in situations where no other immediate options are available. While the board recognises that such placements are not appropriate locations for taking children into care they are nevertheless suitable places of safety in an emergency. The Eastern Health Board is grateful to the hospital authorities for their understanding and co-operation in responding to the crisis needs of children and families in this regard.

On the issue raised this evening I assume the Deputy was referring to recent media reports which alleged that children had fallen sick with an infectious illness while placed in hospital as an emergency care arrangement by the Eastern Health Board. I have had inquiries made with the board in relation to this report and the board has stated that children have not fallen ill with infection by virtue of the fact that they had been placed in hospital.

It is important to remember that at any one time the Eastern Health Board has in its care about 1,400 children, 1,000 of whom are in foster care. The remaining number are in residential care. While it still remains a reality that health boards cannot always provide an ideal placement in a crisis, significant progress has been made in the development of child care and family support services in recent years.

Health boards have developed a range of services to meet the needs of children at risk. Since 1993 over £35 million has been provided to develop services under the Child Care Act, including family support and community services. A significant proportion of this amount has been used by all eight health boards to improve supports to existing foster families and to recruit additional foster families. This policy reflects the increased importance of foster care within our overall child care services.

I announced earlier this year an increase in the basic rate of allowance payable in respect of foster children aged 12 years and over. This increase, effective from 1 March last, raised the basic allowance to £60 per child per week. The total additional cost of this measure is in the region of £1 million per annum. I consider this move to be a first phase in the provision of increased supports to foster parents and it is my intention to improve the level of allowances on an ongoing basis.

The Eastern Health Board recently held a fostering publicity campaign which yielded a total of 66 applications from people interested in fostering. These applications are currently being assessed by the board. Further families are being recruited who will be available at night to care for children who present in a sudden crisis.

The Eastern Health Board will be opening two additional residential units. One, which will come on stream early next year, will provide short-term emergency care for adolescents and the other will be a crisis unit for children under 12 years of age. The board has also strengthened its out-of-hours social work service by providing night time supervisors and additional social workers. I am pleased to inform the House that proposals submitted to Government for the further development of our child care services over the next three years have been approved in principle.