Mr. Bernard Gloster:

The Deputy mentioned practice decisions and practice models. He will know that, from the commencement of the Child Care Act 1991, public policy and professional discourse and all that go with them reflect the view that, where at all possible, a child should be maintained in his or her own family and community. Sometimes supporting the family and community involves taking a mature risk. Sometimes that will work and sometimes it will disrupt or break in the teen years. There is always a debate over whether a young person should go into care a lot earlier. Practitioners always raise it with me. It is a very hard question to answer because the fundamental aim is to try to keep a child or young person at home with his or her family. The extent to which this can be done while at the same time avoiding complexity is a feature.

Beyond the 50 or 60 special emergencies, Ms Murphy will refer to the complexity that the Deputy is talking about in respect of the general in-care and child-protection population that we respond to. Certainly, we have seen substantial increases in the past two years in the context of mental health issues and disability that is not responded to or not responded to early enough. Domestic violence has also been an issue. Referrals owing to domestic violence are growing exponentially.