Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 October 2016
654. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when sections 1 to 9, inclusive, of the Child Care Amendment Act 2015 will be commenced; and the reason there has been a delay in its commencement in view of the fact this legislation was enacted in December 2015 [30596/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 was signed into law in December of last year. The Act is primarily concerned with aftercare – the planning and support put in place to meet the needs of a young person who is leaving statutory care at 18 years of age, to assist him or her in making the transition to independent living. The legislation imposes a statutory duty on Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, following an assessment of need, to prepare an aftercare plan identifying relevant aftercare supports for an eligible child or eligible young person.
Tusla is currently revising its aftercare policies - it is anticipated that this will be completed shortly. Commencement of the relevant provision is anticipated following the outcome of consultations with Tusla with regard to appropriate timing and the readiness of Tusla to implement same.
Currently some 1900 young people are in receipt of aftercare support provided by Tusla, while 102 young people over 18 years of age who need additional support are being provided with residential care. The additional funding provided to Tusla in Budget 2017 will ensure that this level of support can continue. It will allow the continuing recruitment of additional social workers so that all children in care have an allocated social worker to work with them in developing an aftercare plan. Furthermore, Tusla will have scope to employ a sufficient number of aftercare workers to ensure young people, who have left care, have the degree of support they need.
