Ms Kate Duggan:

I would like to raise the issue of practice reform. We talked a good deal about the reform of alternative care services in terms of foster care and residential care.

We have talked about the development of our therapeutic services. The third strand of that for us is around developing integrated response pathways which are very much our commitment to ensure that we are moving away from a system of thresholds and a child or young person not meeting a threshold for a child protection response and instead of getting no response, that they get a different response. It is that different response that may not require a social work response. It is a response that requires perhaps somebody who has experience in working in and engaging with families with addiction issues where the person has experience of working, maybe, with young people between 16 and 18 years of age. It may be a youth worker who is able to support those children to remain at home and to support those families to parent and look after those children safely. When we talk about the social work-led teams, it is, of course, the social work teams but it is the other teams we need within areas to respond to those children and families that need a response from Tusla, and not only a child protection response.