Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 9 May 2023

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth

General Scheme of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion

Mr. Cormac Quinlan:

They are very rare circumstances in which, for example, there is a newborn baby and factors we are aware of affecting the parents' ability to keep that child are so serious, even though the child may not have yet experienced harm, it is likely to experience harm, based on what we know and the parents are struggling at that point. We do not believe that safety planning at that juncture will be enough to keep that very vulnerable young child at home safely. The child may require care for a period of time with the purpose of working back to reunification once we are able to support and address the complicating factors with that parent.