Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
1115. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to protect the future of vulnerable children within the care of the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14388/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe responsibility for the provision of alternative care services lies with Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. Since its establishment in 2014, Tusla has led a comprehensive reform of child protection, alternative care, and family support services. Central to their vision is the development of services that ensure children are safe and achieving their full potential.
Budget 2024 brought Tusla’s allocated budget to €1.038 billion. This funding will allow Tusla to begin to address some of the increased demand for Tusla services, including increasing capacity in respect of residential care provision in line with commitments contained within Tusla’s Strategic Plan for Residential Care Services for Children and Young People 2022-2025. Further, Tusla has developed a range of Strategic Plans across the continuum of care, which outline increased investment and commitments to improvement of services for children and young people in care.
Section 41 (1) of the Child and Family Act 2013 stipulates that I as Minister shall develop a performance framework to provide Tusla with policy guidance, direction and prioritisation parameters for the preparation of its corporate plan, and provision is also made for the development of a performance statement for the preparation of Tusla’s annual business plan.
Tusla’s corporate plan 2024-2026 reflects these priorities, particularly in objective 3, in which Tusla commits to ensuring the services it provides are structured to provide consistent, quality and integrated response to service users, and objective 4, which puts a spotlight strengthening service integration both internally and externally to better meets the needs of service users. Specific actions under these two objectives are wide-ranging, including among others a restructuring of Tusla’s service areas and improving early access to therapeutic services for children in care.
Additionally, a priority of mine in the led up to Budget 2024 was to seek to improve the supports foster carers can avail of. As part of Budget 2024, from 1st January 2024 the rates of the foster care allowance have increased by €25 per week, up to €350 per week for children aged under 12 and €377 per week for those over 12. The foster care allowance will be further increased in November 2024, up to €400 per week for children aged under 12 and €425 per week for those over 12. This increase, the first since 2009, reflects my priority to make a significant investment for those children and the families that care for them.
The Government is committed to supporting the provision of high quality and safe services to children in care, which will help them to reach their full potential. Officials in my Department meet regularly with their counterparts in Tusla to discuss a range of issues, including availability of placements, workforce planning and interagency issues, with a view to supporting the continuous improvement of services delivered to children in care.
