Ms Suzanne Connolly:

As members will be aware, children need consistency of social workers. Ideally they need to have the same social worker if they are going into the care system. Indeed, parents who are applying for reunification need to have the same social worker. That is a real challenge at the moment because of turnover and issues to do with recruitment and retention. The other important issue is that across each area there are sufficient resources to keep children at home so that we can avoid children coming into care if possible whatever that might mean. It could be early years services, after-school services, practical support in the home or it could be addiction services or mental health services. The system really focuses on keeping children in their communities and then, if children really need to come into care, that the system supports their being in care for as short a time as possible. However, that needs to be resourced. Both State agencies and the community and voluntary sectors support it.

The last issue is that if children are in the care system, how we support their returning home as quickly as possible. If that is not possible, we must retain the relationship with their families and communities. Going back to what Mr. Quinlan said, this is about permanency planning. However, it is about resourcing. There are three social workers here; we are all social workers so we all feel passionate about this. However, there is nothing like consistency of service. That is important.