Ms Michele Clarke:

I welcome the contributions made by everybody and it has been very helpful for us to hear them as people who have worked in the area. We really appreciate the thought and time that people have given to the subject. We are quite taken with the recognition, across the committee, of the need for a cross-departmental and cross-agency contribution to the working of good aftercare which is something that we shall take back to the Department. I shall address two points and my colleague, Mr. O'Donoghue, will address the other points.

With regard to Deputy Ó Caoláin's comment on consultation, it is important to understand - and I think that the agency will take this on - that it must be from 16 years of age, at a minimum. Obviously if a child is in residential care and is unclear or anxious in any way then the care should start earlier. Sensitivity must also extend to a child who, perhaps, is in a very stable foster care situation and assumes he or she will live there. The approach of beginning the discussion of aftercare with that child must be done in such a way as to not undermine his or her stability.

When we talk about consultation beginning, one must realise that it is part of care planning. Part of care planning is assessing when one needs to start this engagement with the child. Depending on his or her circumstances, it could be earlier but, at a minimum, by 16 years of age and it should be noted on his or her formal care plan what the decision is and what is happening at that time. It starts with the social worker and then moves on to the aftercare worker, depending on the circumstances of the child.

The second question was about the vulnerability of some young people leaving care and how the agency can support them through that period. We would like to recognise that there is a higher proportion of children with disability in care than there is in the general population. Some of the children have very severe disabilities and some have severe mental health difficulties. They are children and young people who will probably carry a lot of these challenges or difficulties with them throughout their adult life. The core issue for the agency, in terms of developing an aftercare plan, is to help that young person transition over time from the agency service to the appropriate adult service, rather than remain with the agency forever. That transition must be done in a way that ensures that the child or young adult is securely placed into the responsibility and care of the agency dealing with the adult difficulty, particularly individuals with very severe difficulties. Those are the two points that I had wished to address and I leave the remainder to Mr. O'Donoghue.