Mr. Albert O'Donoghue:

I thank the members of the committee for their consideration of this Bill. I thank my colleagues in the Child and Family Agency and the representatives of Barnardos, the Children's Rights Alliance, Focus Ireland and EPIC, all of whom are present to contribute to the debate.

The provision of an appropriate aftercare service has been highlighted as a key element in achieving positive outcomes for young people leaving care. It is essential that all young people leaving care be provided with the type of transitional support that their individual circumstances require. While aftercare has been in existence for many years, the agency's national aftercare policy, operational since 2011, has improved the standard and consistency of aftercare planning and service delivery.

The vast majority of children in care live in foster care. Many of these young people remain living with their foster carers after they reach the age of 18. The agency advises that, at the end of December last year, 1,163 young people were in receipt of an aftercare service. Of those aged between 18 and 20, inclusive, some 55% were in full-time education. There were 639 young people in aftercare who were supported financially by the agency to remain living with their foster carers. These young people did not have to face the transition associated with leaving their foster carers at 18 and they received the main support from their carers with additional input from an aftercare worker. One hundred and ten young people were in a range of supported living arrangements, from supported lodgings and living with an assessed and vetted adult in a domestic setting to semi-independent flats with access to an aftercare key worker.

The most vulnerable group of children, however, comprises those living in residential care for short-term foster care placements. Children who come late into care, in their mid- to late teens, might not have developed the relationships with staff or aftercare workers that would help them to achieve good outcomes. It is essential that these children have the opportunity to develop a relationship with a dedicated aftercare worker who will work with them to identify their needs and ensure services are in place to help to provide them with the stability and support they need. These are the children who are most vulnerable to homelessness as young care leavers.

Ideally, aftercare services should provide the range and continuum of services to assist with the varying needs of young people leaving care to enable them to achieve a successful transition from the care environment to independent adult life in the community. A key factor in providing appropriate aftercare comprises the assessment and care planning that should take place in consultation with the young person and key individuals in the period coming up to the end of the legal care relationship between the State and the child. The transition period presents serious challenges to young people and agency staff alike, as the young adults encounter all the usual developmental issues associated with leaving home, in many cases without the security of a stable background for support and having been affected by early failures of attachment. Some young people, on leaving care, declare themselves independent of State services and are reluctant to engage further with such services. This in itself presents a particular challenge to service providers.

Aftercare provision incorporates advice, guidance and practical support. An individual needs assessment identifies where the young person will live, his education or training requirements and the financial and social network supports that are needed. One of the key features of an aftercare worker's role is to advocate on behalf of young people and promote their development, as fulfilled adults, in their community and, when necessary, link them to the appropriate services.

Under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 and the Child Care Act 1991, the Child and Family Agency has a statutory duty to promote the welfare of children up to the age of 18 years who are not receiving adequate care and protection.

The Child Care Act 1991 provides that, where necessary, the agency may take the child into care either on a voluntary basis or by applying to the court for a care order.

Section 45 of the Child Care Act 1991 provides that the agency may assist a child leaving its care if it is satisfied that the person has a need for assistance. The provisions have been interpreted and applied on the basis that young people who have a care history with the agency are entitled to an assessment of need, from which an aftercare plan may be prepared and an aftercare service may be offered, based on assessed need. The legislation provides that the core eligible age range for aftercare is from 18 years to 21 years. This can be extended until the completion of a course of education and training in which a young person who has left care, or is leaving care, is engaged.

Last year, the Minister decided to strengthen the legislative provisions regarding aftercare to respond to past concerns that there was insufficient focus in the area and that such planning was not taking place on a properly structured and consistent basis. The approach adopted is to impose a statutory duty on the agency to prepare an aftercare plan for an eligible child or eligible young person. The aim is to create an explicit, as opposed to implicit, statement of the agency’s duty to satisfy itself as to the child’s or young person’s need for assistance by preparing a plan that identifies those needs for aftercare supports. The approach also clarifies the children eligible for an aftercare plan and promotes a broader approach than was the case previously or found in practice.

The draft provisions also clarify the range of agencies providing relevant services with which the agency will co-operate in the development of the plan. The prioritisation of services for young people receiving aftercare is considered in the context of the statutory and administrative criteria and rules relating to State provision of services and the requirement of all State bodies to provide services in accordance with resources available to them. The agency and officials of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs intend exploring these matters further with the relevant Departments and agencies on a bilateral basis as we continue to support the improvement of aftercare for this vulnerable cohort of children and young people.

The provisions in the draft Bill provide for an explicit requirement to prepare an aftercare plan in respect of a specified cohort of children and young people as they transition from State care. The scheme attempts to take account of the need for a degree of nuance in planning for leaving care for young people at a time that is appropriate and sensitive to their particular needs. At the same time, the intention is to ensure that the preparations take place in good time to allow a young person to participate in the preparations, to ensure the young person can prepare him- or herself for changes that may be occurring, and to ensure that the necessary supports can be identified and, subject to availability, put in place. The intention is to make the transition as seamless as possible at a time when young people can be particularly vulnerable. All of these provisions are to be effected by way of amendment to section 45 of the Child Care Act 1991.

The provisions will create an absolute obligation on the agency to implement a national standardised structure for aftercare planning, assessment and provision. While operationally the agency has been moving significantly in that direction, a point on which Mr. McBride will elaborate in respect of the progress of the agency, this provision clarifies and copperfastens the requirement for an aftercare plan. It puts such planning on the same footing as other statutory obligations on the agency. It guarantees the progress made to date will continue.

It is worth saying that the precursor of the agency, the HSE, developed aftercare plans and provided an aftercare service over many years. It provided resources to support young people in education and training, with accommodation and emotional and social support. However, reasonable criticisms were made that there were inconsistencies in how aftercare was provided and some confusion about who was eligible. This proposed legislation will now clarify and broaden the criteria of children who become eligible for an aftercare plan. In particular, it allows for young people who may wish to disengage with the agency at 17 or 18 years to reopen discussions in the future about the aftercare planning process. The aftercare planning process is a natural extension of the care planning process and it is a step necessary to ensure that the challenges of the transition to independent adulthood are recognised fully by way of an assessment for aftercare and that the plan put in place is appropriate for each individual young person’s needs.

Finally, many young people and their foster carers assume that aftercare will be provided by the foster family with which they continue to reside. In these instances, it is the foster carers who provide the emotional and social support of aftercare, while the agency plays a supportive role.