Ms Karla Charles:

I will address one or two issues and ask my colleague, Ms Guinan, to address a few more. I hope we will cover all of the questions raised, but if we do not, members can let us know.

On the provision of services for young people seeking to access mental health services, it is a matter of matching the needs of young people with the services provided. The provision of mental health services is crucial for children in care. EPIC would like to see dedicated mental health teams for children in care who should receive priority on CAMHS, child and adolescent mental health services, lists. We sometimes find it very difficult to gain timely access to mental health support services for children in care. That is simply not good enough. If children in care have to wait six months to one year to access such support, it is too long. The trauma they have suffered is, therefore, not being dealt with adequately. Foster families or children in residential care receive support on a day-to-day basis from those around them, but they also need specialised support and intervention services and should not have to wait so long to receive them.

EPIC is a member of the Children's Mental Health Coalition. I strongly encourage the committee to consider the submissions it has made on mental health needs and into which we have fed with respect to children in care. We have strong ongoing concerns about sending children outside the State to avail of specialist mental health services and raised the issue many times. There may be occasions on which it is the best idea to send a child out of the State, but we rely on this option too much when we should be developing greater expertise, if there is a specific mental health issue within the State. One of the big issues in sending children out of the State for a number of years to receive treatment and support involves their reintegration when they come back when often there is no reintegration plan. If they return at the age of 18 years, aftercare issues arise.

On whether Tusla is fit for purpose, we have all been digesting Geoffrey Shannon's report on the findings of the audit of the use of section 12 of the legislation. Tusla which is a relatively young body is on the road to reform. We must have confidence in it because it has made progress. It is reaching out to agencies such as ours. It is trying to learn from us and our expertise and that of other agencies. It is happy to work with us in that regard, which is all very positive. Unfortunately, however, the rate of progress is a little slow and the public perception is that the agency is constantly reacting to crises. That is unfortunate because a great deal of good work is being done. Tusla is on the road to where we want it to be and we have to support it. That includes support not only from organisations and agencies with which it works but also cross-departmental support. The review of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures that is taking place should involve an examination of how the HSE, the disability and education sectors can be reinforced to support the work of Tusla, as opposed to people having the view that it is not their job, that it does not involve them, and keeping it all separate because life does not work like that. The statement it made yesterday is to be supported. We must ensure it is provided with everything it needs financially to ensure we can put behind us the child protection horrors the country has witnessed in the past and try to move forward. Unfortunately, there will always be incidents that are unavoidable, but we need to try to ensure they are kept to a minimum. We can only do that by all working together and supporting this relatively young agency.