Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I thank the Chair and members of the committee in the room and online.

Prior to the commencement of today's hearing, and subsequent to submission of my opening statement, I want to take this opportunity on behalf of the Child and Family Agency to record our sincere sympathy to those bereaved in the harrowing tragedy in Creeslough in Donegal. Our staff and funded partners have many skillsets including psychological and social support capacity. They have been very much present with other State agencies over the weekend and this will continue for as long as required. All resources at our disposal and any additional resources required by our team there will be made available. The collective trauma of the community will not be known for a time to come and we assure them as a State agency in their midst that we stand in solidarity with them ready to assist them in any way necessary into the future.

I want to express my thanks to the committee members for their kind invitation to appear before them today. I am joined in the committee room by my colleagues, Ms Kate Duggan, Mr. Pat Smyth and Ms Clare Murphy, assisted by Ms Niamh Duddy, my business manager. Other colleagues are online to assist should questions arise. In the three matters covered in the committee's invitation, and recognising there are many other dimensions to our work, I want to make the following opening remarks.

Since I last appeared before the committee in May, the agency has published the annual report in respect of 2021. The year 2021 was again underscored by the effects of the pandemic on Irish society and as a critical service provider of front-line essential services for children and families, the agency’s core focus was to ensure the continued delivery of these essential services. In addition to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, Tusla in 2021 was also severely impacted by the cyberattack on the HSE ICT network. The agency’s response required a large-scale operation.

Against the backdrop of these challenges for the agency, the demand for services and support for children and families continued to increase during that year. In addition to the increased referrals the agency also continued to provide all of its other statutory services in adoption, domestic sexual and gender-based violence, education welfare and support, regulation of early years services, and a whole range of family support services. During the pandemic, we were able to ensure continuity of support for care leavers, particularly those who at the time could have had difficulty because of age or access to education supports at the height of lockdowns. That period has again highlighted for us the many needs and challenges for care leavers and also the possibilities there are for more improvements. The agency has made significant change and progress despite the challenges of the past two years. New management and leadership at national and regional level is now established. This means the agency is in a stronger position to deal with the challenges that are to be expected in statutory social services.

In 2021, the agency managed 73,069 referrals to child protection and welfare services. There were 5,863 children in care at the end of 2021, 90% of whom were in foster care, while 23,807children received a family support service in 2021. A total of 3,059 young adults were in receipt of aftercare services at the end of 2021. In the academic year running into 2021 our education support service worked with over 5,500children. Over 4,000early years services and a range of other specialist activities for children were regulated by Tusla on behalf of the State.

The second item on today's agenda is foster care compliance. When I last appeared before the committee, I addressed several aspects of foster care and associated issues, resulting in a very productive engagement with members. At that time, I advised the committee that Tusla was involved in developing its own overarching strategic plans for three elements of alternative care, that is, residential care, foster care and aftercare. In my earlier appearance I provided the committee with the plan for residential care and committed to foster care being next.

Since that time and following extensive engagement, the board of the agency has now approved the foster care plan which I shared in recent days with members. Implementing this ambitious plan will require support and decisions beyond the authority of Tusla. I welcome the commitment of the Minister to actively supporting our efforts to improve foster care services for both the children and their carers. Specifically in respect of compliance I advise members that our foster care services are inspected by HIQA in addition to our own internal governance systems. Every effort is made to ensure that there is an appropriate level of attention to improving quality and increasing the oversight on important issues such as safeguarding. HIQA has conducted successive themed inspections of foster care services and this has been essential in driving improvements.

When we consider the totality of inspection reports in foster care since 2019, the improvement is in the order of a 34% increase in the number of compliant or substantially compliant findings measured against the HIQA standards. The 34% increase relates to a Tusla aggregate of all HIQA foster care reports. HIQA’s own published overview reports clearly point to improvements and also some shortcomings still to be addressed. I am conscious that all of this noted, there remain challenges in some of our local areas. I assure members that there is a very strong focus on supporting those areas to reach compliance and this is part of the consistency challenge that the agency faces. I am satisfied that where HIQA has identified deficits, we have developed plans for improvement and are taking steps to mitigate risks. I want to take this opportunity to thank the many people who continue to put themselves forward as foster carers in what is an enormously selfless endeavour. They, along with our dedicated staff, are what will ultimately ensure the quality of care for children.

On the issue of aftercare, I understand the committee raised this matter on foot of communication from the Simon Communities. As noted earlier, having completed multi-annual improvement plans for residential care and foster care we are now in the consultation phase for similar in aftercare. I look forward to this being finalised by January 2023. In the meantime, members should note that 3,045 young people and adults up to 22 years of age, inclusive, were in receipt of aftercare services at the end of quarter 2 of 2022. This is an increase of 10% from the end of 2019. Almost half of those 18 to 22-year-olds in receipt of aftercare services at the end of quarter 2 had remained living with their carers, with a further smaller number returning home. Approximately 76% of 18 to 22-year-olds in receipt of aftercare services at the end of quarter 2 of 2022 were in education or training.

Members should also note that 82% of all young adults in receipt of aftercare services at the end of quarter 2 of 2022 had an aftercare plan. A full 92% of those with an aftercare plan were assessed as needing an aftercare worker and of these, 91% had an aftercare worker at the end of quarter 2. There were 198 young adults awaiting an aftercare worker at that time. However, the 198 awaiting an aftercare worker received attention from an aftercare manager. I want to assure the committee of our continued efforts to assign aftercare workers to those young people who are in need of them. All areas also operate a drop-in service and for the first six months of 2022 a total of 4,500 entries were recorded on the registers for drop-in services. There remain many challenges for care leavers and young adults who have left care. Among those challenges are the issues of sustainable accommodation and adequate mental health supports. We will continue to work with all other State agencies to advocate for improvements for young people leaving care.

That concludes my opening remarks. I am happy, together with my colleagues, to assist the committee with any questions arising.