Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 22 Feb 2001

Vol. 165 No. 7

Adjournment Matter. Child Care Services.

Ms Keogh

Thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, for allowing the motion on the Adjournment to be taken today and I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Hanafin, for coming to the House.

Again this week the intolerable situation in the child care services has been brought into sharp relief and we know who is responsible for this. Mr. Justice Kelly in the High Court has again slated the State's record, saying that it has descended to new levels of farce. What happened this week is beyond belief. There are reports of 13 and 14 year old boys being put into hotels because there is no suitable place of care for them. Mr. Justice Kelly said that not only would he not approve of any proposals for the hotel detention of troubled children, but that he was positively disapproving of it.

Other cases that have come before Mr. Justice Kelly include a troubled 13 year old boy who has been held in a Dublin Garda station for five days, a teenage girl who has been detained at the Central Mental Hospital, a 15 year old boy who was forced to sleep in Pearse Street Garda station after he had failed to turn up in court 52 times, and a 14 year old on assault charges who spent a number of nights in Waterford Garda station after his father refused to pay the £1 bail for his release.

These appalling cases highlight the point made two months ago by the director of Trinity House, the State's secure centre for convicted juvenile offenders, that it would take years to get an integrated care system where children would be given proper facilities. This helps us realise what the true situation is. Eight of the centre's 22 beds were taken up by disturbed children and although the unit does its best, it is not a therapeutic environment for these children. The director of the national assessment centre said the centre was increasingly unable to carry out assessments because beds are occupied by disturbed children who should be elsewhere.

Obviously children and sometimes the general public are at risk. We have to thank Mr. Justice Kelly for continually highlighting this scandal in our care system but those thanks are not enough. Why is it that each time these cases hit the headlines we have to call upon the Government to provide secure places where children are given proper facilities?

I accept that this is not a simple or straightforward problem and it cannot have a simple or straightforward solution. These young people have problems throughout their lives and what we need is a co-ordinated approach to solving their difficulties.

There is a stark contrast between this crisis and the response to what is happening in the agricultural and food industries. This morning in this House we congratulated the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development for his speedy response to the foot and mouth disease threat. Nobody is able to congratulate the Minister for Health and Children for his speedy response to the threat to young people.

This is not to say we want a stop-gap solution. What we need is a proper, well co-ordinated approach to the care of vulnerable children. This must be addressed as a matter of great urgency. We know the difficulties in relation to staffing levels and the needs of staff in terms of wages, conditions, support and, most important of all, training appropriate to the needs of the young people they are dealing with. This is possible if it is given the utmost priority and that is what the Government must do. We must ensure that children, particularly those who are most vulnerable in society, receive the supports they need, whether this is therapy, psychological services or other supports.

Above all, what these children need within our education system, and our society as a whole, is an early intervention system so that they can be supported from a very early age and do not become drop-outs or fall between the cracks of what services there are. We have a national children strategy but unfortunately it is just not working for these young people. I take this opportunity to highlight the issue and to put the onus on the Department of Health and Children to ensure that these children are cared for.

They are not just the flotsam and jetsam of society. To treat them as such is intolerable and something of which we should be ashamed. I call on the Minister for Health and Children to ensure that the facilities are provided for these young people as a matter of the utmost urgency.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Ms Hanafin)

I thank Senator Keogh for giving me the opportunity to put on the record the absolute priority this Government places on children, and has done since it came into office in 1997. This is evidenced by the fact that we have invested more than £90 million extra revenue in the development of child care services. This significant investment has allowed for the development of improved services to tackle youth homelessness in Dublin and elsewhere. New child and family support services, such as specialised fostering and early intervention projects, have also been put in place to allow health boards provide a range of appropriate interventions in order to place specialised residential care in an appropriate context.

This additional funding has allowed health boards to increase the number of high support and special care places from 17 in 1996 to a current total of approximately 70 places. That figure of 17 is from the term of the last Government, of which Senator Keogh's party was a member. The need for these places was identified in a High Court case in 1995, as the former Government not only provided no new places but had made no plans for new places. This meant that all that work started in 1997 and we have now increased the number of places to 70. That number includes one-third of the 24 places in the purpose built special care unit at Ballydowd in Dublin, which is ready, but which can only be opened on a phased basis due to difficulties in recruiting staff.

In addition, a number of special arrangements have been provided by health boards for individual children and this will continue to be a feature of the boards' responses to the needs of troubled children. Taking a child into residential care is undertaken only as a last resort because we accept that the child should be supported within his or her own family first and, where that cannot happen, within foster care. An extra allocation was made in this year's budget for the support of foster care and foster carers. A national development plan exists for the provision of high support and special care residential places based on the needs identified by health boards.

Plans are under way to develop an additional 56 places nationally. In the Eastern Regional Health Authority area the construction of a high support facility providing 24 places at Portrane has commenced. It is anticipated that this unit will be ready by autumn 2001. The Midland Health Board, the North Eastern Health Board, the North Western Health Board and the Western Health Board are co-operating to provide 12 high support places on a single campus in Castleblaney, ten high support places and a special care facility with five places for adolescent boys in the Mid-Western Health Board and five high support places for boys in the Southern Health Board. These places are due to become available by the end of 2001.

As mentioned, special arrangements for individual children will continue to be provided and this will bring the total number of places available to about 160, at a total capital cost of approximately £30 million. This is a large increase from the 17 places available when this Government took over in 1997.

I want to draw attention to a number of points relating to the speed at which the development of high support and special care units can be undertaken and put in place by health boards. Because of the public perception of these services and some opposition from local communities I know that health boards find it difficult to source suitable sites or premises. This complicates and lengthens the planning process. The current economic climate makes the recruitment of staff difficult. In response, some health boards have recruited staff from outside the State. Against this background considerable progress has been made by the health boards in putting this programme of developments in place.

The Children Bill, which is currently before a Committee of the Dáil, contains a number of important measures for non-offending children who are in need of special care or protection. These include Part 3 of the Bill which empowers health boards to apply to the courts for special care orders to detain non-offending children in need of special care or protection and Part 2 which introduces the family welfare conference on a statutory basis for the first time. Familly welfare conferencing has been operating on a pilot basis for the past year. It has been evaluated and it has given us some valuabale guidance and information for the future.

The Government also recognises that research is needed to establish what works well in responding to the needs of children. It is not enough to be well intentioned, our policies need to be underpinned by solid, research-based evidence. In this context the Senator will be aware that a £200,000 annual research fund has been established under the aegis of the National Children's Office as part of the national children's strategy for research into the needs of children in care. Although the national children's strategy was only launched in November, we can already see some real effects.

Child welfare services are not just about additional funding and additional specialised residential services being put in place. They are, more importantly, about ensuring the highest standards in the provision of those services, especially in the provision of services for children in care.

Considerable progress has been made in this regard since this Government came to office, with the setting up of the social services inspectorate on an administrative basis in April 1999. In the first three years, the inspectorate is concentrating on the child care area and in particular on residential child care services. I acknowledge the important work the inspectorate has done to date, in partnership with health board management and staff and other providers of services, in recognising best practice and helping to improve standards.

Having considered the matter carefully, including concerns about isolated instances where standards of care have fallen short of what is expected, I intend proposing to Government that the social services inspectorate be established on a statutory footing to strengthen its role in relation to ensuring that our child welfare services are of the highest standards. Such development would also complement the role of the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and I intend publishing the legislation shortly. This office, when established, will act as a powerful advocate for children and promote the welfare and rights of children. With the Ombudsman for Children, I intend to continue to be an advocate for children and I have the full backing of the Government in ensuring that will happen.

The Seanad adjourned at 3.45 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 27 February 2001.