Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 May 2017
662. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children or babies of women attending a centre (details supplied) in the past ten year period who have been taken into care by social services as a result of being deemed at high risk. [22007/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information sought by the Deputy has been requested from the Child and Family Agency and I will respond directly to the Deputy when the information is received.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A
I refer to your Parliamentary Questions (22006/17 and 22007/17) of 9th May 2017 in which you queried the number of admissions of women to a centre in the past ten years; and also the number of children or babies of women attending that centre in the past ten years that have been taken into care by social services as a result of being deemed at high risk.
I can confirm that the following information has now been received from Tusla.
The Centre referred to in cork has a number of family support services designed to provide a continuum of care for parents with crisis pregnancies to support them in safeguarding their children and to remain united when it is safe to do so. The Centre provides residentially based and community based supports and assessments for parents in crisis.
The residential Parent and Infant Unit, funded by Tusla, provides supports to mothers and fathers who are in crisis and whose children are deemed at risk. Pre-birth and post-birth referrals are admitted to the Unit.
Since 2007 there have been 282 admissions to the Parent and Infant Unit and 31 of these were admitted as couples. The majority of parents were aged between twenty and thirty-four (63%), 5% were under seventeen with a further 16% aged between 18 and 20, fourteen per cent aged between 35 to 44 and 2% were over 45. The majority of parents were referred to the Unit directly from child protection teams (90%) or homeless services (3%), while 7% of parents self-referred.
The primary referral issues relate to substance misuse, neglect, domestic violence and mental health with many service users having co-existing adversities. Over 90% of families had a history of involvement with the child protection system prior to admission.
The vast majority of parents were referred from the counties Cork and Kerry (75%). The remaining 25% came from other areas nationwide.
I can confirm that of the 284 infants at the Centre during the ten year period 95 (33%) were placed in care directly from the Centre by Tusla due to significant risks to the children's welfare and safety.
Since 2011, with financial supports from the Crisis Pregnancy Programme, the Centre provides further aftercare supports to parents and children to assist in the smooth transitioning to the community. After their intense residential programme these families continue to need parenting and relationship supports to assist them in remaining united as a family.
