Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 February 2021
613. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of outcome 3, aim 3.1 in relation to Better Outcomes Brighter Futures (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9925/21]
View answerOf the 5 National Outcomes contained in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, Outcome 3 relates to ‘Safe and Protected from Harm’ and states that all children and young people have a secure stable and caring home environment and that they are safe from neglect and exploitation. All children and young people need safeguarding and the Government recognises that specific groups of children and young people are particularly at risk and need additional supports.
Significant progress has been made under outcome 3, action 3.1, with the introduction of the Children First Act 2015. The Act, which was signed into law in November 2015 and fully commenced in December 2017, provides for a number of key child protection measures, including raising awareness of child abuse and neglect, improving child protection arrangements in organisations providing services to children and the introduction of mandatory reporting of child protection concerns by certain key professionals.
The Act also places specific obligations on organisations providing relevant services to keep children safe from harm whilst availing of their services, to carry out a risk assessment and to develop a Child Safeguarding Statement that outlines the policies and procedures in place to manage the risks identified.
The Act operates side-by-side with the non-statutory obligations provided for in Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children. The guidance sets out definitions of abuse, and signs for its recognition. It explains how reports about reasonable concerns of child abuse or neglect should be made by the general public and professionals to Tusla. It sets out what organisations need to do to keep children safe. It also describes the obligations under the Children First Act 2015 and who they attach to. These guidelines have been in place since 1999 and were fully revised and published in October 2017 to include reference to the provisions of the Act.
Work under outcome 3, action 3.1 is continuing including through the Children First Inter-Departmental Implementation Group (IDIG). The Group, which was established on a statutory basis under the Children First Act, is chaired by my Department and includes members from every Government Department as well as representatives from Tusla, An Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive. The Group promotes compliance by Government Departments with their obligations under the Children First Act and is a forum where members can raise child welfare and protection issues of general concern or with a cross-sectoral dimension.
There has been much progress in relation to learning from investigations and reviews on child protection. In the context of these themes both my Department and Tusla has further progressed significant improvements in these areas as summarised below:
- Early intervention & family support – through the What Works and the Prevention, Partnership and Family Support Programme.
- Out-of-hours services – expanded from the Dublin region to the entire country with on call support through a dedicated phone line and with social workers located in each of the 17 Areas of the country.
- Interagency collaboration - through full scaling and implementation of Children and Young People's Services Committees; and Tusla establishment of National Interagency protocols with the HSE and has a Joint Working Protocol with AGS under Children First.
- Child and youth participation – Tusla has developed and is in ongoing implementation of a Child and Youth Participation Strategy 2019-23.
- Child protection conferences – Tusla has a national children’s register for children at ongoing risk of significant harm called the Child Protection Notification System and this system is accessible by other key professionals who play a role in safeguarding and protecting children.
- Recording and Data Management– Tusla has established one integrated National Child Care Information System and has a comprehensive Data Management Strategy.
- The HIQA Statutory Investigation 2018 and its report and recommendation saw the establishment of an Expert Assurance Group to oversee Tusla’s progress against all actions arising from this investigation report.
- In 2017 Signs of Safety was adopted as the national approach to practice, to assist in the delivery of consistent responses to child protection concerns nationally. There was a three year implementation strategy to train all Tusla staff in the Signs of Safety approach, to upgrade all IT systems to align with the Signs of Safety format and to realign all internal policies with the new approach. The child protection and welfare strategy, called Creating Effective Safety runs from 2017-2022.
- Child sexual abuse - Development of the Barnahus model which is an Icelandic and EU model for child friendly centres for abuse victims. Integrating forensic medical, An Garda Síochána and Tusla specialist interviewing with therapeutic support in one centre to reduce trauma for the child. Tusla is a partner in the Barnahus network. https://www.barnahus.eu/en/
My Department works closely with Tusla to ensure that the learning from the range of review and regulatory mechanisms in place relating to child protection and welfare serves to directly inform policy development and organisational performance. Tusla as an organisation has proactively placed a priority focus on this area in its self-assessment mechanisms and its performance conferencing processes.
Next month, my Department is planning to bring together the range of regulatory and review bodies to share the learning relating to the protection, welfare and wellbeing of children. This will support a more strategic approach to ensuring the transfer and implementation of learning to address issues that impact on the safety, welfare and protection of children.
