Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of children who are currently in the care of the Health Service Executive in the north-east region. [34948/10]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 225: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of children who have been taken into care in 2009 and to date in 2010 by court order in the north-east region; and if she will provide a breakdown as to the location at which these children were placed. [34950/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 223 and 225 together.

As these are service matters they have been referred to the HSE for direct reply.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will make a statement on the policy of the Health Service Executive with regard to children in care. [34949/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Child Care Act, 1991, provides the statutory basis for child welfare and protection. Under the Act, the Health Service Executive (Est. 2005) has responsibility for the delivery of services. The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, was established in December 2005 to improve the lives of children under the National Children's Strategy and bring greater coherence to policy-making for children including in the areas of early childhood care and education, youth justice, child welfare and protection, children and young people's participation, research on children and young people, youth work and cross-cutting initiatives for children. Children now have a stronger voice on issues that affect them, through the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, who, uniquely for a Junior Minister, attends all Cabinet meetings.

"The Agenda for Children's Services" is the national policy for all children's health and social services, which takes a more preventive approach to child welfare, involving support to families and individual children, aimed at avoiding the need for further more serious interventions later on. The principle of having health and social services provided on the basis of the child being supported within the family, within the local community is at the core of the national policy. The purpose of the policy document is to set out the strategic direction and key goals of public policy in relation to children's health and social services. "The Agenda for Children's Services" builds on existing policies and places them in a framework for delivering children's services.

As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I chair regular meeting between officials of the HSE and the OMCYA. These meetings are focused on a range of issues relating to child welfare and protection services, such as reform of social work, resource issues, management information and general delivery of statutory services. In addition to these regular meetings with HSE senior management, I also host meetings with HSE social work staff in an open forum arrangement.

Successive Ministers have taken a series of initiatives, since the publication of Children First in 1999, to improve the quality of children's lives in this country and to protect children at risk. The legislative and policy framework has been significantly strengthened through the passage of major pieces of legislation, such as the Children Act 2001, the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002, the Child Care (Amendment) Act, 2007, and the continuing passage of new legislation through the Oireachtas including the Adoption Bill, 2009, and the Child Care (Amendment) Bill, 2009. Key policy initiatives include, the Agenda for Children's Services, the Government's Implementation Plan following the Ryan Report, the Irish Youth Justice Service Strategy, the Youth Homelessness Strategy, and the Report of the Working Group on Foster Care.

Major developments have also taken place at service level including: the establishment and expansion of the Social Services Inspectorate under HIQA; the development of national standards for children in the care of the State; the continued development of special care units for vulnerable children; expansion of the Garda vetting services; the establishment of the Children's Services Committees; the creation of key new management positions in the HSE at senior management level with responsibility for child and family social services; the development of standardised service delivery and business processes within the HSE; development of a Knowledge Management Strategy for child welfare and protection services; development of a sustainable and cost effective solution for the provision of out of hours services for Gardaí who remove children under Section 12 of the Child Care Act, 1991; policy on under 12's in residential care; confirmation of statutory basis for the provision of aftercare services and increased provision of these services for young people leaving care; and oversight of HSE implementation of HIQA recommendations regarding residential care and foster care.

The Government is committed to building on the existing legislative and policy framework and to taking any additional actions deemed necessary to ensure greater protection for children at risk.