Mary Lou McDonald
Question:63Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the position regarding her efforts to address youth homelessness. [8065/12]
View answerHomeless Persons
Questions (6, 7)
Michael Colreavy
Question:68Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of known homeless children in the State. [8066/12]
View answerOral answers (5 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 63 and 68 together. The national youth homelessness strategy was developed in 2001. It is therefore appropriate that, some ten years later, we review progress and set new targets. A review of progress in 2008 by the HSE in conjunction with other agencies found that significant progress had been made, especially in interagency co-operation, early prevention and an out of hours service. These improved practices led to earlier identifications and interventions with children and young people under 18 years within their communities.
There has been an information deficit in this area, which is surprising because there should not have been. Work is under way to improve the quality of information on the number of young people under 18 who are homeless in order to establish in what areas services are working well and where further improvements are needed. It is encouraging that the Dublin region homeless executive informed the HSE that it did not find any child under 18 years of age sleeping rough in Dublin during the sleeping rough headcount in November 2011.
We need better information. I have set up a system and will be able to give Deputies further information at the end of March. The information now being collected will tell us the number of children placed in youth homelessness centres for more than four consecutive nights or more than ten separate nights over a year, the number of children in care in a specified youth homeless centre, the number of referrals being made to emergency out of hours place of safety services and the number of children placed with the emergency out of hours safety service. Those figures will tell us a lot more and give a more complete picture of the experience of young people in regard to homelessness.
Children who were referred to as homeless fall into three groups: children who mainly reside with their families but due to an emergency need care and accommodation immediately; children and young people who are defined as at risk of homelessness, such as children who might be staying with friends but do not have a stable base; and children and young people who are found to be sleeping rough.
I would not take any solace from that. I am of the view that whatever methodology is employed is missing out on real situations. I have no doubt that is the case. It may very well be that young people, in particular, may not gravitate towards the city centre and if they are from suburban city areas they may very well find themselves an opportunity to sleep rough closer to home and the community from whence they come.
The Minister indicated some time ago that she was having discussions in the Department on the most effective model to review the youth homelessness strategy to which she referred in a previous reply. She said it was intended that the review would form the basis for the development of an implementation framework for youth homelessness for the next five years. What is the status of that?
In May 211 the Minister established the advisory group on youth homelessness. I would like an update on that work. I ask the Minister not to depend on the November figures. Earlier questions referred to the failure to reflect the situation of children in regard to a reduction in the Garda numbers and system. I am not sure we can have confidence in the information that no young people under the age of 18 were homeless last November.
We examined one of the ways of reviewing the homelessness strategy. There was a meeting with all of the stakeholders and it was felt the time was right and that it was essential to review the strategy and see how we could re-prioritise this area. The Deputy is correct; important data needs to be collected. It is remarkable that in the ten years since the adoption of the 2001 youth homelessness strategy there has not been regular data collection on the number of young people aged under 18 who are homeless. That is why I have prioritised the need for better data collection and management. As a result, we will have better data for 2012 next month. I am also getting extra data, to which I referred. The figures will be more helpful and comprehensive.
To answer the question on the future of the strategy, I have asked the Centre for Effective Services to do a high level review of the implementation of the 2001 strategy. We want to examine what has been successful, the blockages, the current challenges and what has not been done. Consultations are being held with the relevant service providers, NGOs and young people as part of this process. The review will be completed before the summer and will inform the development of the framework to address youth homelessness in the next five years. When all of that is put together we will be in a position to move forward in a comprehensive way with better quality data.
I welcome the Minister's indication that she is engaging with stakeholders in the widest sense, including NGOs. I presume she is referring to Threshold, Focus Ireland and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Can she indicate whether the process is already under way? The level of proactivity required in this area should be employed in this instance. It is hugely important.
If one was to listen to the contributions of many older people who are homeless in the city today, one would find many indicated they were in that position from their mid to late teens. It cannot be the case that no teenagers are homeless today. We must learn lessons from the past and be proactive. NGOs have a huge role to play in that and I welcome that the Minister is engaging with them.
The data work has begun. The Centre for Effective Services has started its review of the strategy. I met with Focus Point and will meet other groups. Consultation with stakeholders will take place and accelerate once we have the information from the centre.
I acknowledge what the Deputy said about the vulnerability of some children in regard to homelessness, despite the fact the headcount in November found no children aged under 18 were sleeping rough. A number of emergency out of hours placements are being sought by young people and there is pressure on that service. Clearly, there are young people who are out of home, need help and are on the fringes. That is the group on which we need to focus.
Departmental Reports
Questions (8)
Martin Ferris
Question:64Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the date on which she will publish a new national children’s strategy; the consultation process that will be used alongside it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8063/12]
View answerOral answers (6 contributions)
My Department is developing a new strategy for children and young people. It will build on Our Children - Their Lives, Ireland's first children's strategy which was published in 2000. It will cover the period 2012-17. It is being developed in a holistic way to comprehend the continuum from early infancy, through early and middle childhood, to adolescence and early adulthood, in keeping with the Department's responsibility for children and young people.
For the first time we will have an early years strategy and I intend to appoint an expert group to advise me on this area. It is surprising, and tells us quite a lot, that we do not have a comprehensive early years policy strategy for young people in Ireland. It is needed and I intend to ensure that, under the new children's strategy, we have a comprehensive early years policy framework in place.
I want to ensure the new policy framework deals with emerging issues which affect children, like the impact of new technologies, the media and consumerism. It is important that we have a very broad approach to the development of the new strategy. It also has to be cross-departmental because while we have certain core functions which have been taken into the new Department of Children and Youth Affairs, there are also important linkages which need to be made.
For example, it is important that action is taken on obesity across a number of Departments, such as the Departments of Arts, Sport and Tourism; the Environment, Community and Local Government; Health; Education and Skills; and Children and Youth Affairs. If we do that we will get a fresh impetus and a whole Government approach to dealing with issues such as child poverty and healthy lifestyles.
In my question I asked for the date on which the Minister will publish the new national children's strategy. Could the Minister elaborate on that? What level of civil society engagement will be included in the consultation process and what resources will be allocated? Will there be an implementation plan to go alongside it? Are we waiting for the end of the process or can we do things along the way with newer and fresher thinking, for which I commend the Minister?
I am minded to refer to the third goal of the current national children's strategy, and I do so because of something I was exposed to this morning. It states that children will receive quality supports and services to promote all aspects of development. The Minister will agree that particular goal has not been achieved in the cases of far too many children heretofore. This morning I met a delegation of mainly young parents of children with Rett syndrome, a rare disease affecting some 60 children across the entire island of Ireland; we did so in the context of International Rare Diseases Day on 29 February. This morning we heard the reality of what those parents must cope with. These are children who are not only physically disabled but intellectually disabled as well. It is terrible to think the system in any way would create a hierarchy of disability and address a particular cohort first. These young children, virtually all of them female, present after 15 to 18 months of a normal infancy. This is very important and I urge the Minister, in the context of International Rare Diseases Day, to look at the needs of children with disabilities as an important focus in the national children's strategy. Those needs cannot be left as an equality issue under the Department of Justice and Law Reform or a health issue under the Department of Health. Children with special needs, particularly those with an intellectual and physical disability, should have their needs and interests loom large in the consideration of the new strategy.
I intend the strategy to be available towards the end of this year. It is important we consult with young people as well. I launched a consultation last year and I am pleased to say 67,000 children took part. I also thank the teachers and national schools that participated in that, giving us a rich body of data from young people about what they like about living in Ireland and what they would like to see improved. That is an important part of the consultation on the national children's strategy and I expect that towards the middle of this year, we will ask for submissions from a broad range of civic society on what should be in the strategy. I refer to this often when I meet groups, including those working with children with disability.
There is important work to be done to increase the focus on children's health issues. For example, basic screening for sight, hearing and speech will identify the one in six or seven children who will have difficulty in those areas. It important that we screen at an early stage, that we have a focus on children with a disability and that we have an integrated approach. I was reading research recently that showed that children with a disability who receive early care and education make much better progress than would otherwise would be the case. That is why the ECCE scheme plays a role in supporting families where children have a disability. I must work with other Departments but this must be an area where there is focus because we have not had integrated services in the past. I gave the example of the early childhood care area and working with families. There is potential there that would mean we would be to work with those children at an earlier stage, which would mean they make better progress than if the help had come at a later point.
I welcome the Minister's response.
I am glad to hear the new strategy will involve a comprehensive early years policy. How will the new strategy address the alarming rates of child poverty in Ireland, with over 19% of children at risk of poverty and 9% of children living in consistent poverty? What are the Minister's views of the fact that measures introduced in the budget may result in an increase in these rates, given there were cuts in child benefit for third and further children, cuts in the back to school allowance and that one parent families have been hit by the budget, where 65% of the poorest children come from? Will the new strategy deal with this problem?
This area needs particular focus because when it comes to poverty, children are vulnerable. There is no doubt the best way out of poverty for a family is to have a job. The creation of jobs and the managing of the economy are the best supports we can give families. The support services we are offering throughout the country, the money that is going to the voluntary sector to support these families, is very important. Vital work is being done in parenting courses, support services and in the ECCE programme, in which we are investing €160 million. That is a huge support to the families the Deputy mentioned but clearly the financial situation has huge consequences for all families and we must be mindful of the vulnerability of young children and must try to intervene and support families as much as possible.
Health Service Staff
Questions (9)
Barry Cowen
Question:65Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of social workers she intends to have in post at the end of 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8093/12]
View answerOral answers (5 contributions)
The HSE compiles a monthly census of employment in the public health and social care sector. The latest data available is in respect of December 2011. This shows that the total number of social workers employed in the HSE and in directly funded agencies at that time was 2,442 whole time equivalents.
The HSE made provision for the recruitment of an additional 62 social workers in 2011 and advised in December that all of these posts were either filled or accepted. I understand from the HSE that not all of the 2011 cohort of additional staff are reflected in the employment census as yet owing to the time lag between candidates being offered positions, taking up duty and appearing in the employment census returns.
The HSE national service plan for 2012, which was recently approved by the Minister for Health, includes provision for 3,142 whole time equivalent staff across the Children and Families Service, including social workers. This compares with a projected 2011 return of 3118 whole time equivalents.
The HSE national service plan sets out a range of reforms and performance measures to guide the improvement of child welfare and protection services. Other priorities in the 2012 service plan include delivery of consistent family support services and development of a national protocol on supervision orders; improving the collection of accurate data on services and on children in care, including procurement of the National Child Care Information System; establishing a national child protection register; developing consistent risk assessment and measurement tools; a greater focus on quality assurance and auditing of workloads; preparing and implementing a workforce development plan for child and family services; and continuing the implementation of national standards for pre-school services.
The Government has made additional budgeting provision for these services compared to the funding made available last year. This provides a further impetus to the comprehensive reform of service delivery which is underway and which is aimed at generating the best possible outcomes for vulnerable children and families. Extra funding has been made available, amounting to €21 million this year. There is a reform process under way and a very big job to be done delivering what is outlined in the HSE's service plan.
The Minister outlined many challenges that must be addressed in regard to child protection services. I agree with her entirely in this regard. One of the challenges she has had to address in the past year is the appointment of the 60 additional social workers. According to her figures, ten of the 60 were in place at the end of 2011. My question is very specific - how many social workers does she plan to have in place by the end of 2012? She stated the number for the end of 2011 was 2,442. What will the equivalent figure be at the end of 2012?
I was very disappointed to hear the Minister state in her earlier contributions on the retirement of social workers that, despite the Ryan report recommendation to engage in a process of recruiting social workers, she did not outline any plan as to how the staff will be replaced. She stated it will be the task of the HSE to decide whether each should be replaced. This is totally in contradiction with the recent work on trying to increase the number of social workers. From my assessment of the HSE figures, there were 71 social workers to leave. The Minister's number is lower. I would be interested in knowing which of the 71 staff would not be regarded as being at the front line by the Minister. Will the Minister state specifically how many social workers in the area of child protection will be in place at the end of 2012? There were 2,442 at the end of December 2011.
I will repeat my remarks because the Deputy seems to have difficulty understanding them. I got the funding for the 60 social workers by the end of last year. Twenty-five of the 60 – ten is a different figure – have been recruited. All of the others have been offered or have accepted posts. I could not be clearer. The 60 social workers will be in place over the next few weeks, and that is extremely important.
I have succeeded in having €21 million extra allocated for child services and protection as opposed to the €14 million reduction that the last Government oversaw. I have succeeded in recruiting 60 additional social workers, 25 of whom are already in place.
I have told the Deputy the number of staff in place at present. The national director of children and family services, Mr. Gordon Jeyes, will be examining the gaps caused by the 45 staff who are leaving. The local and regional managers are assessing the impact of the retirements. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis depending on the priorities that are deemed necessary and on what the local and regional managers say to Mr. Jeyes. I certainly want to maintain the numbers in place and to ensure that, where there are priority needs, the director will have discretion. Since the director has the budget at present, he has the discretion to replace those deemed to be in priority positions. I have reached agreement on the recruitment of the new multidisciplinary team for the children in special care. The initiatives are taking place. They will all mean the referrals in the HSE will be dealt with as comprehensively as possible.
The Minister is now saying there is no plan for establishing the number of social workers to be in place at the end of 2012. Despite all the work over recent years, the recommendation of the Ryan report stating there should be 270 additional social workers employed, and the Minister's stating in the Dáil over the past year that she was working towards delivering these posts by the end of 2011, she is now saying there is no longer a target for the number of social workers who will be employed in the area of child protection. She is saying she will transfer responsibility in this regard to the HSE, thus absolving herself of responsibility. It makes a mockery of what we have been doing.
The Minister needs to take responsibility for this. We need a plan for the replacement of the social workers who are retiring. We need an acknowledgement that they are essential to a robust child protection and welfare system and that they will, as a consequence, be replaced. We need to know the Minister will come up with a plan to ensure this.
I repeat that there is a very clear plan in place. It has included the successful recruitment of the 60 social workers whom I have said would be recruited, resulting in a total of 270 social workers. The number was reflected in and required by the Ryan implementation plan. Some 260 of the 270 social workers have been recruited and are about to take up their positions. The Deputy seems to find this very hard to understand. The remaining 25 of the 60 have taken up their positions and the rest will do so. They have accepted their positions and will be in place.
The multidisciplinary team will be in place. It has been needed for many years and was never put in place. The team will be recruited this year. The budget is in place. There has been an increase of €21 million, as opposed to a decrease of €14 million under the previous Government, for work in child and family services. An extra 37 social workers are working in child and family protection. There is, therefore, a very comprehensive plan in place. There is a clear plan to collect the kind of data that were never collected over the past ten years. It is very difficult to plan if one does not collect the data and if one cannot compare what is happening in one part of the country with what is happening in another. All that work is under way. The data are being collected in a much more comprehensive way. This means we can plan the services more comprehensively and, therefore, meet the needs better.
I have maintained and increased the number of social workers and the budget in this area at a very difficult time in our economic history.