Dáil debates

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Other Questions

Child and Family Agency Establishment

3:20 pm

Photo of Sandra McLellanSandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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14. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on whether adequate resources are available for social care work; the additional resources that will be provided to ensure the proper functioning of the new Child and Family Agency; if all children in care have allocated social workers and specific care plans, and if not, what is the shortfall. [47839/13]

Photo of Sandra McLellanSandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I stated in my contribution to Second Stage of the Child and Family Agency Bill that while the new structures were positive, all the best structures and policies in the world will not achieve what the Minister has set out to achieve if they are not properly resourced and if there are not sufficient social workers available to carry out their duties. There is significant concern in the youth care sector that resources will not be provided. New social care places have been promised but they have been slow to come on stream. Will the Minister reassure the House that all children in care are being looked after?

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy made her comments during the debate on the legislation to establish the new agency, the Child and Family Agency Bill 2013, which is progressing through the Oireachtas. The agency will be established on 1 January 2014. It will assume responsibility for a wide range of services for children, including child welfare and protection services currently operated by the HSE, preschool inspections and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services, the Family Support Agency, the National Educational Welfare Board and community-based psychology services. The agency will have available to it the existing resources of the HSE children and family services, the National Educational Welfare Board and the Family Support Agency. Control of this voted expenditure will transfer to my Department in the revised Estimates volume to be published in advance of establishment day.

The latest monthly performance report for September 2013 shows 6,465 children were in care, 91.9% of whom had an allocated social worker and 87.8% had a written care plan. While both are not at 100%, performance has improved dramatically over the past number years when the percentage was in the 80s and we are seeing improvement. The vast majority of these children are cared for in a foster care setting, which is unique to Ireland. This is important.

As of 30 September 2013, a total of 1,385 whole-time equivalent social workers were in post across children and family services. The number includes all 270 posts recommended in the Ryan report.

Recruitment is ongoing and the retention of social workers, in particular in those front line positions in child protection, in common with other countries in Europe, is very difficult. There is a very high level of maternity leave. Currently, there are 100 social workers on maternity leave. We are filling vacancies but it is an ongoing challenge to keep the numbers where we want them.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

As regards the issue of vacancies, I can advise that 114 social work vacancies have recently been filled with a further 136 posts due to be filled shortly, of which 51 have been accepted by candidates and are expected to commence post in the near future.

The 2014 budget, which was published on 15 October last, includes an additional €6.7 million - €12 million in a full year - to support the ongoing programme of reform of child welfare and protection services. This additional investment will support the child and family agency in ongoing reform aimed at improving the quality and capacity of child protection and welfare services, in line with the very significant priority placed upon these improvements by Government.

3:30 pm

Photo of Sandra McLellanSandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for her answer but I am not entirely reassured by it. The number of social care workers is being stretched to the limit. Ireland has relatively few child protection workers per head of population and in relation to the total number of children in care. Many of the reports carried out in this area have highlighted inadequate staffing. What is more is that HSE figures show demand for HSE children and family services is increasing for several reasons, not least the economic climate and the consequent increase in reporting and, in particular, putting the Children First guidelines on a statutory footing, which will create further increases. I believe the Minister has approved 60 new social care positions. Will she give a timescale as to when these promised new places will come on stream?

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I will revert to the Deputy on the last question because I do not have those details with me. I will communicate directly with her on those 60 posts. The 2014 budget included an additional €12 million in a full year to support the ongoing programme of reform of child welfare and protection services. The Deputy is right that there is ongoing pressure on the services. There is no question about that. There is an increase in referrals to child and family services and very complex cases are coming to the fore.

The reform and reorganisation will help with that because we will work more effectively with the NGO sector and the child and family support agency. There will be clearer assessment when cases are referred in the first instance so that if the case is a child protection concern, it will be referred to the child protection team. If it is a family which needs family support, the closer working relationships and the alignment of priorities between the HSE and the NGO sector will mean that families will get better supports.

Photo of Sandra McLellanSandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I await the Minister's answer on that. Recently, when I raised a case with her about a child who was not getting what she should have been getting, the whole thing was sorted out in a matter of minutes following one telephone call by her Department to the social care workers.