Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 October 2019
59. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the locations of voluntary residential services situated in the strategic plan for residential care services for children under State care. [43152/19]
View answerWhere in the strategic plan for residential care services for children will the voluntary residential care services sit?
I thank the Deputy for her question.
Foster care is the preferred form of alternative care for children in need of care and protection and who cannot live with their parents or guardians. Ireland is a world leader in this regard with over 92% of the 6,017 children in State care at the end of June being in foster care. This compares favourably from an international perspective. Indicative figures show that 61% of children in care in England reside in foster care, while the equivalent figures in Norway and Scotland are 89% and 88%, respectively. It must be noted that these figures relate to different time periods and thus are not directly comparable. It should also be noted that alternative care may be approached very differently in other jurisdictions, with different policy, practice and legislative contexts in operation.
There are a number of reasons foster care is not always an option. It may not be possible to find an appropriate foster care placement, a child could be at immediate risk or a child might have specific therapeutic needs that are best met in residential care. In these cases, a child may be placed, in his or her best interests and on the basis of social work assessments, in a residential setting. Approximately 7% of the 6,017 children in care in Ireland live in residential settings. In June 2019, this amounted to 400 young people. Individual residential centres care for small numbers of children, often no more than two or three.
Residential services are provided by Tusla directly and by private and voluntary bodies commissioned by Tusla. There are 26 voluntary residential children’s centres providing care for children in State care. Tusla uses a mix of its own services and voluntary and private providers to maximise the availability of services that are best suited to meet the needs of individual children and young people. Tusla uses other providers where no suitable placement is available in its own residential centres.
Tusla has advised that it is in the process of developing a three-year strategic plan for children’s residential services. I understand that this process will involve consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The outcome of this process will help shape the future of residential service provision.
I thank the Minister for her reply. There is a role for residential care services but some of the voluntary services have raised concerns with me. They are alarmed at what they perceive to be the privatisation of the service, similar to what was done in England with disastrous consequences there. In England, there were zero-hour contracts for the staff and thus very low staff retention, which has a negative effect on the relationships between young people and the staff. I have had engagement on this issue with a number of services in the Dublin and greater Dublin areas and they are very concerned. The staff in voluntary residential services here are not on zero-contract hours and, therefore, they have all been in those services for a long time and they have built up relationships with young people. They are concerned that service provision into the future will be a tick-box exercise in terms of whether children are being fed and a service complies with governance and so on. While the relevant boxes may be ticked off, this is not an indication of the quality of the services. It appears there is a bigger agenda which seems to be undermining the community and voluntary sectors. I am seeing this in Dublin Central, where the community and voluntary sectors play an important role.
I welcome that there will be a consultation process but it must be real consultation and not one to which Tusla comes with a prearranged agenda.
The consultation process will be ongoing and open. I mentioned earlier that Tusla uses a mix of its services and voluntary and private providers. There is a concern in regard to the cost of provision of residential settings. My understanding is it has increased and that costs are similar across the board regardless of the type of residential setting in which the young people live. I take on board the Deputy's concerns in regard to the voluntary providers. It is particularly important that they be heard in the consultation process.
I thank the Minister. One of the voluntary services about which I am speaking is Streetline, which has been in operation for more than 30 years with really positive results. It is based in the community in the north inner city, where it has engagement with other community and youth groups, which is important for the children in its care. This service presents an alternate family situation. It has been told that it must align with the Peter McVerry Trust. This is not a criticism of the Peter McVerry Trust but it has a different value system to the Streetline service. As I said, Streetline has been told that if it does not align with the Peter McVerry Trust, its funding will cease. Tusla has stopped making referrals to Streetline at a time when there is great need. Currently, this service has three vacancies in its under 18s section, three vacancies in its aftercare section and there will be no more referrals until such time as it complies with what Tusla wants. I have fears in regard to open consultation if this is what has been decided. Everybody cannot fit into the same box. We can address needs in different ways. Streetline has been addressing needs for more than 30 years. It would be a shame were it to be forced to fit into a box that is not an easy fit.
It is important that the Deputy raises those issues now. I am not familiar with the details of what she has identified but I will raise questions about it, following which I will communicate with her. I can assure the Deputy that the consultation process will be open and transparent. Hopefully as a result of it, all of the different types of providers in the context of residential settings for our young people will continue to be there for us, they will have had an opportunity to have their needs expressed and the system will change accordingly.
