Ms Freda McKittrick:

If we knew the courts would be consistent, we could take some comfort form that but we know that they are not. In 13% of cases in Galway, guardians are appointed while it is more than 80% of cases in Louth. I am a guardian and I work on the ground. The child care cases in Galway are the same as they are in Louth and the difficulties and challenges children face in the courts are just the same.

The case studies that we have submitted contain sensitive information that has been anonymised and details have been changed but they are based on real children. Sally did not have a guardian until the day she was taken into a special care unit. She did not have a guardian when she was in an adult psychiatric ward. She did not have a guardian when she was sent home to her mother when she was six. She got one when she went into special care and her guardian and social worker worked hand in hand with the Child and Family Agency to obtain resources. By having a guardian working alongside the social worker, the latter was able to access resources that had not previously been available to Sally. This is the kind of work that we do on the ground.

An element of the Bill that worries me is that guardians ad litem, GALs, are not allowed to cross-examine witnesses. We do not go to court everyday to cross-examine witnesses but when a question arises as to the quality of care that a child has received, we must be able to ask questions of the social workers and the parents if they want their children returned to their care.

Another element refers to how the guardian will not request an assessment in respect of a child. A child might need speech and language therapy or psychological intervention but we cannot ask for that as his or her guardians. Were the provision to read "the guardian may not require" and require us to make a court application, that would be fine, but to say that we cannot cross-examine or request more information puts us in the back seat and takes away from what we are able to do now. We do a great deal of valuable work but there are many more Graces out there as well. That is our worry. When a child who is among the quarter of children who are represented approaches 18 years of age, we are able to argue for a robust aftercare plan for him or her, but we do not know whether the same is happening for the remaining 75%. Tusla's aftercare policy, a matter that we will raise directly with that body, states that children with moderate learning disabilities will not get aftercare workers because that is the HSE's job. There is a gap, which leads to the concern that children with borderline mild-to-moderate learning disabilities are being put into community placements without sufficient protections for their welfare.