Chairman:

I thank the Senator. I have a question. Is there such a thing as unallocated social workers for children in care? Does every child in care have a social worker or are there still unallocated workers for such children? I realise that children in care will have different levels of need for social workers. Some children could be in care for up to six or seven years or from birth and might not have any requirement for a social worker if there is no access and the birth parent is not involved. Where a teenager comes into care, however, there could be massive demands. The allocated social workers figure is a raw crude figure that we can get hung up on, but I am more concerned that the services which the social workers are trying to access for the children are available. Ultimately, the social worker is an intermediary trying to get intervention for the child in care. Children in care have major issues with and have been traumatised by abandonment, the loss of parental influence, rejection and so forth. There is a vicious cycle for them as they grow up in care, go out into the world and try to deal with all of that. We have failed to invest adequately in the type of therapies that are required by these children. Is there a promise in the Minister's budget for the coming year to increase that and to ensure that Tusla will become more proactive in this area as opposed to reactive, particularly with regard to interventions for teenagers in care?