Mr. Gabriel McCabe:

As a foster parent, I am here today to bring to the committee's attention the ways in which the proposed Bill promotes discrimination, exclusion and the social isolation of children in care. The State, as corporate parent to these most vulnerable members of our society, is, by way of these provisions, denying their very existence. In the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia, 40-page policy documents are in place detailing the educational treatment of children in care and the admissions entitlements applicable to them. There is not one paragraph or even one word about children in care in this Bill. What parent, corporate or biological, would treat its most vulnerable child in this disgraceful manner? We have seen the same attitude before in this country in the case of the Magdalen laundries, industrial schools and clerical child sex abuse scandals. We were in denial about such matters in the past. The provisions of this Bill, as it currently stands, prove that in 2014 we are still in denial about our treatment of children in care.
I ask the committee to show leadership, wisdom and foresight by recommending to the corporate parent of these children - that is, the State, as represented by the Government - that they be granted equal status with their international peers and given highest priority when it comes to admissions to schools. The onus should be placed on school authorities to prove the student's unsuitability for the school rather than the child or carer having to prove the suitability of the child for the school. In England in 1988 a status of highest priority was granted to looked-after children. This was reaffirmed in education regulations published in 2006 and again, despite strong challenges from school authorities looking for increased autonomy, in the school admissions code of 2012. These provisions guarantee the admission of looked-after children to their preferred schools.
There are approximately 4,000 school-going children in care in Ireland and there are 4,000 schools in the country. In other words, we are talking about an average of one child in care per school across all classes. It is hardly a major burden on each school to do its share to alleviate the plight of these disadvantaged children. In May 2013 a report commissioned by Ms Emily Logan, the Ombudsman for Children, and undertaken by the ESRI and the children's research centre at Trinity College, Dublin into the education of children in care in Ireland was published. The foreword to the report refers to children in care facing "multiple obstacles to the enjoyment of their rights". Three months after the publication of this report, the corporate parent of these children - namely, the State - published this proposed Bill, which ignores the very existence of the children for whom it bears a significant responsibility.
In 2006 and again in 2011, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, following its audit in Ireland, highlighted the failure of the State to put in place a comprehensive and systematic system of data collection on children in care. This failure, the committee noted, represented "a serious impediment to evidence-informed policy-making and practice". The State has continued to ignore the UN in this matter and, eight years later, no such study or data exist. The ESRI report states, on page 33:

At the level of national education policy, children in care are not visible, as such... [C]hildren in care are not the focus of any specific policy initiative within the [Department of Education and Skills]. Nor are children in care the focus of targeted initiatives [by] the NEWB, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), or the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

These children are apparently invisible.
Low educational achievement is the dominant theme in international research on children in care. In an article in The Guardianin September 2011, the situation in England was outlined as follows:

Last year, 49% of looked-after teenagers failed to get five GCSEs, compared to 7% of all pupils. While the situation is improving, the Adolescent and Children's Trust (Tact) estimates that it will take this fragile group 50 years to match the average achievements of other 16-year-olds. At age 18, the statistics are just as gloomy. Only 7% of looked-after young people make it to university, compared to 40% of their peers.

The particular barriers to educational achievement for children in care include, among others, issues relating to early life trauma, school attendance, discipline, behaviour and peer or social relations. Failure to gain admission to appropriate local schools is a strong barrier to social integration, mental well-being and continued attendance at school. Children who are forced to attend schools outside their own community have great difficulty integrating with other children from within the community in which they live. This leads to loneliness and isolation, contributing to mental health issues that can have a significant impact. What these children do at the weekend and during holidays is as important to their development as what they do at school, particularly in the case of adolescents. In addition, arriving to school in taxis with a different person each day singles these children out among their peers and leads to bullying and isolation which, in turn, lead to poor school attendance and the resultant under-achievement. The cost of transport and social care worker time is a cost that would be far better directed to providing children's educational support needs.
The granting of highest priority status to children in care is the international norm in developed, English-speaking countries and should, by way of this Bill, be extended to children in this situation in Ireland. Such a development is not the solution to all ills, but it would be an important cornerstone in helping children to integrate socially within the community in which they have been placed. This would lead to increased school attendance and provide the child with an environment where he or she can improve the likelihood of academic success. Failure to address the educational and social needs of these children leads to homelessness, poverty and contact with the criminal justice system. To better understand social isolation, I urge members to read my daughter's care leaver's statement in the supporting documentation and the warning about exclusion in The Guardianarticle I have distributed. I conclude with a statement from that article in reference to legislation in England: "Barnardos and Tact also fear that the education bill, in giving heads more power over exclusions, will be to the detriment of looked-after children, who are already nine times more likely to be excluded...".