Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 June 2012
120 Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the 2011 Health Service Executive inspection report on private and voluntary children’s homes; her plans to ensure that in future children are better informed of their rights and supports in order that they are aware when they are failed by the system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27576/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraAll children's residential centres are inspected to ensure that the children living in the centre are receiving the care and protection that they require. TheNational Standards for Children’s Residential Centres,provide a basis for consistently promoting quality of care in children’s residential centres. They provide inter-alia for consultation with children, procedures for making a complaint and access to information by a child. The HSE registers and inspects non-statutory voluntary and private children’s residential centres against these standards. A copy of the standards is available on my Department’s website at www.dcya.ie.
The process of assessing standards of care in the centres is undertaken by a HSE inspector who visits the centre and gathers information through interviews and meetings with the centre management, staff members and young people, analysis of case files and centre records and contact with guardians, social workers and other professionals as appropriate. Centres are thoroughly inspected and where an inspection report identifies non-compliance with a regulation, the centre will not be registered and re-registered again until compliance has been achieved.
My Department led a major consultation exercise with children and young people in the care of the State over the course of 2010. Over 200 children and young people took part in consultation sessions. The aims and objectives of the consultations were to get the views of children and young people in the care of the State on the issues that really matter to them and on which they would like to be heard; to explore existing mechanisms for children and young people to express their views and to make recommendations on future structures to be established for children and young people to express their views.
The Report of the consultation, entitled ‘Listen To Our Voices' was launched by me last July, when I indicated that I would be establishing an Implementation Group. The Voice of Children in Care Implementation Group was established in May 2012 and is being facilitated by my Department. The Group will meet over a nine month period, to consider the recommendations from the ‘Listen to Our Voices' consultations and work on implementation of recommendations relevant to ensuring that their voices are heard.
