Mr. Wayne Stanley:

I thank Deputy Brabazon for his questions. On the question on the court system, this goes to the Department of justice and the options available to the courts when they are dealing with young people who are caught in addiction and, perhaps, veering into criminality. There are some measures in justice legislation but they are not up and running or available to the courts. These include diversion options in the justice system rather than committing a young person to Oberstown. One of our concerns is that there are not necessarily high level supports between special care and Oberstown. Such measures should be part of our alternative care system so the courts could intervene and send people to more supported environments. If these more therapeutic options were open to the courts, then perhaps we could have better outcomes for children in these circumstances.

EPIC has experience in this area but we are not a drug rehabilitation service. We refer people on. What we do see in terms of alternative options regarding services designed for care-experienced young people is that a lot of the services out there for young people are based around family intervention and counselling models. A lot of trauma may have led to addiction and contributed to their care experience, or their care experience has contributed to their addiction, but they are not necessarily ready to go into counselling. They are looking for alternative ways to address the crisis they are in. It might lead to counselling further down the road but these services are not there and, if they are, they are very rare. They are often innovations by individuals rather than systemic services in position. Social workers will tell us the services are not there for them to refer the young people in their charge. This is something we continue to see.