Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 November 2013
404. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of emergency places available to her Department for the placement of children deemed to be at risk at any particular time over the past three years to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48295/13]
View answerThe HSE provides a range of services aimed at addressing emergency situations in the area of child welfare and protection. In the main, these emergency situations arise out of hours.
At present the Health Service Executive provides out-of-hours emergency services for children at risk in the greater Dublin area through the Crisis Intervention Service (CIS), and outside the greater Dublin area through the Emergency Place of Safety Service (EPSS). The Crisis Intervention Service provides out-of-hours emergency social work assistance to young people aged under 18 years. The service operates across the greater Dublin area (Counties Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow). Referrals are made by service providers outside of normal working hours i.e. Gardaí, hospital and ambulance service personnel.
The Emergency Place of Safety Service operates outside the greater Dublin area, whereby Gardaí can access an emergency placement for children found to be at risk out-of-hours. This service involves the placement of a child in a family setting until the next working day, when the local social work service assumes responsibility for the case. As part of this service Gardaí have access to advice and information from a non-HSE social work off-site resource which is provided on a contract basis. The service is designed to ensure that children presenting as 'at risk' outside of normal working hours are provided with an appropriate emergency place of safety, a foster care placement, thereby reducing or eliminating social admissions of children in an acute hospital setting.
Five Rivers Ireland (FRI) is the company that is currently providing this emergency place of safety service on behalf of the HSE. The purpose of this service is to provide placements to children where Gardaí have removed children from their homes under Section 12 of the Child Care Act, outside of normal working hours, on an emergency basis.
Since the service commenced in June 2009 there has been a steady increase in the number of calls to the CIS and EPSS and an increase in the number of children placed. This table provides further information:
|
Year |
Total number of referrals |
Placements |
|
2009 (from June) |
166 |
66 |
|
2010 |
288 |
172 |
|
2011 |
370 |
253 |
|
2012 |
712 |
580 |
|
End March 2013 |
167 |
134 |
In addition, the Liberty House service in Cork is run by the HSE for young people out of home and at the risk of becoming homeless. It operates through a community based multi-disciplinary team which includes accommodation workers, public health nurse and a psychologist. The service works with young people in Cork up to the age of 18 and where necessary continues to provide support to those over 18 years of age.
Pilot out of hours social work programme
In implementing a recommendation from the Ryan report and as part of the ongoing ‘change agenda’ in Child and Family services the HSE is committed to developing the capacity of our child protection services to appropriately and effectively address the needs of children who present in emergency situations outside of normal working hours alongside the work of CIS and EPSS.
The HSE has piloted two out-of-hours pilot projects, one in Donegal and the other in Cork. The Donegal pilot project commenced in mid 2011 and the Cork project in the third quarter of last year. Both projects involve the provision by local HSE staff of social work support out-of-hours where deemed necessary by Gardaí.
Both projects were internally evaluated by the HSE, which then commissioned an independent external assessment, undertaken by Trinity College Dublin. The HSE has reviewed the recommendations of the Evaluation Report and is committed to further development and expansion of the service subject to resourcing and the terms of the Croke Park agreement. In this regard, a proposal for a National Children and Families Services Emergency Out of Hours Social Work Service has been prepared. My Department has been informed by the HSE that talks with the relevant staff representative association are also underway.
