Written Answers - Children and Family Policy.
Róisín Shortall
Ceist:
252
Ms Shortall
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the areas of responsibility, if any, his Department has with regard to the Government's policy on children; the areas of responsibility, if any, his Department has with regard to the Government's policy on the family; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[2741/99]
The Government's policy relating to children is set out in the Programme for Government An Action Programme for the Millennium. In my response to the Deputy's question I will set out the issues relevant to my responsibilities in the Department of Health and Children which arise in the context of the implementation of this policy.
In regard to the implementation of the Kilkenny incest report, the Kelly Fitzgerald report and the Madonna House report, it should be noted that most of the recommendations fall to health boards to implement and boards continue to be resourced to meet their responsibilities under the Child Care Act, 1991. Since 1993 and to end 1998, £50.5 million has been made available, on an annualised basis, to support the implementation of the Act and a further £13 million will be made available in 1999.
The preparation of the White Paper on mandatory reporting has begun and the working group to review the child abuse guidelines, which is due to report shortly, is also feeding into this process. Community care child protection services are reviewed annually in the context of service plans submitted by the boards. The All-Party Committee on the Constitution has been asked to consider a constitutional amendment to underpin the individual rights of children: the views of the committee are not yet to hand.
The Child Care Act, 1991 is now fully implemented and, as I mentioned earlier, resources continue to be made available to support the further development of services. In regard to the regulation of child care and crèche facilities, under the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations, 1996, pre-school providers are obliged to notify their local health board that they are carrying on, or proposing to carry on, a pre-school service. On receipt of notification, the health board will provide relevant information to the applicant and will arrange for an inspection to be carried out by an authorised person. All pre-school services should be inspected by mid 1999 and inspections will take place annually thereafter.
I am committed to the development of a modern legislative framework to reflect contemporary adoption practice. Work has commenced on a Bill to ratify the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption and on legislation to provide for post-adoption contact.
In regard to policy on the family, the resources made available to boards, as set out above, have allowed them to develop and improve family support services, in addition to the improvements which have also taken place in the child protection area and, as the Deputy will be aware, I am committed to ensuring the success of the family support projects established under the springboard initiative, the main purpose of which is to prevent at risk children and young people from engaging in various forms of anti-social behaviour by providing a proactive response to these children and their families. A total of £7.2 million has been made available to support these projects.
Finally, the Government is committed to the introduction of a national children's strategy and work is under way on this. Due to the importance of the national strategy, I intend to have a wide consultative process before final proposals are agreed.
