Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2014
961. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to provide her assessment of the recent report of the Ombudsman for Children, A Meta-analysis of Repetitive Root Cause Issues Regarding the Provision of Services for Children in Care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13579/14]
View answerI welcome the publication of the Ombudsman for Children’s report ‘A Meta-Analysis of Repetitive Root Cause Issues Regarding the Provision of Services for Children in Care’ based on complaints made between 2004 and 2012.
The report indicated that ten percent of complaints to the Ombudsman were in relation to children in care, and the sample of cases in this report showed that a high proportion of complaints were from children in special care, high support or detention centres. This area of services, representing a very small number of children in care, is also the most challenging. The report outlined the importance of good care planning and the availability of special placements for children who need them. The findings of the report show the need for improved assessment, care planning and early access to therapy for children with high level needs.
A number of recommendations for both the Child and Family Agency and my Department are included in the report. It is worth noting that there has already been progress in a number of these areas in recent years, with further work currently underway.
The new Child and Family Agency, which was established on January 1st brings a dedicated focus to child protection/welfare and family supports; to oversee further service developments and reforms. A new service delivery framework has been introduced involving a national approach to case assessment and management. Children and families identified as having welfare needs can be quickly diverted to family support services, allowing social workers to assess and respond to child protection concerns in a timely fashion. A new streamlined management system and quality assurance framework is being also implemented by the Agency.
The Agency is developing a National Child Protection Notification System, which will give social workers, emergency departments and Gardaí timely access to information on child protection history. The National Child Care Information System, to manage information on children in care, is now at implementation phase and being rolled-out by the Agency. A comprehensive strategic plan for residential care is also being developed by the Agency. A new supervision policy for social work staff was implemented in 2013.
National Standards for Child Protection & Welfare Services were published in 2012. The Health Information and Quality Authority commenced inspection of the HSE Child and Family Social Work Services against these standards in late 2012 and inspections of these services in the Agency are continuing.
The Children First Interdepartmental Implementation Group is continuing to support the on-going implementation of Children First; with legislation to place aspects of Children First guidance on a statutory footing to be published shortly.
The Ombudsman's report also found that multiple placements were a feature in some of the 10 cases described in the report. I note that in December 2012, 172 children (2.7 % of children in care) had experienced three or more placements in the previous year. The comparable rate for England and Wales stands at 10% per annum.
It is imperative that to be successful in improving the delivery of children’s services that lessons are learned from the past and recommendations are implemented. The wide ranging reform programme that has been undertaken to date and continues in the Child and Family Agency will address many of the problems highlighted in this report.
