Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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20. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount of funding allocated to Tusla in budget 2017 which will go towards implementing the provisions on aftercare contained in the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015; and the progress being made by Tusla in ensuring that every child leaving care has an aftercare plan in place. [33784/16]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The backdrop to this question is the EPIC conference on care-leavers held in Dublin Castle about three weeks ago. The question posed to me and other members of the panel on that day, including representatives from Tusla and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, was how much funding allocated to the Tusla budget in 2017 will go towards implementation of the provisions on aftercare as provided for in the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015. Perhaps also the Minister would give an update on the progress being made by Tusla in ensuring that every child leaving care has an aftercare plan in place.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Rabbitte for her question. I am committed to implementing the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 which entitles eligible young people to a formal aftercare plan prepared by Tusla in collaboration with the young person leaving care. I am pleased that the Act places an explicit as opposed to an implicit duty, as is currently the case, on Tusla to satisfy itself as to the young person's need for assistance and support as he or she leaves care. My Department is working closely with Tusla to ensure that the provisions of the Act can be fully implemented as quickly as possible in the coming months. Currently, there are approximately 1,900 young people in receipt of aftercare services from Tusla. In the first six months of this year, 315 young adults were discharged from State care on reaching the age of 18. Approximately 98% of them were eligible for an aftercare service and 91%, or 280 young people, availed of it.

In regard to funding, the Deputy will be aware that I secured an additional €37 million for Tusla in budget 2017, bringing its total allocation to €713 million. Tusla will shortly prepare a business plan for my consideration, in which it will set out how it proposes to allocate its total funding for the year, including its spending plans for implementing the legislation on aftercare and in respect of all the other services it provides. It is important to note that these costs arising relate only to implementation of the provisions of the aftercare legislation. Young people leaving care typically receive supports relating to accommodation, further education, employment and training, which are funded by other Departments. This means that the part of Tusla's budget for 2017, which is ultimately allocated to aftercare services under the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015, will represent just a small proportion of the total spend by the State on those in receipt of aftercare services.

I believe that our young people leaving care deserve high quality supports throughout the system and that full implementation of the Child Care (Amendment) Act will be a key element of how our society helps them to make this critical transition in their lives.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome that a business plan is being put in place by Tusla. On the day of the conference we heard that 6,144 children are in receipt of aftercare plans. A large proportion of these 6,144 children, who were in attendance at the conference, were of the view that they are not getting the aftercare plan to which they are entitled, and for two reasons. First, if they were in care for less than six months, they did not qualify and, second, if they were over 17 years of age they also did not qualify. I hope that this issue will be addressed in the context of the business plan. Another issue raised at the conference was the situation facing children who did receive an aftercare plan in that unlike every other child of 17, 18 or 19 years of age living at home if they fell out of education their aftercare plan fell apart.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am aware of the conference. I met the director of the conference, Ms Jennifer Gargan, subsequent to it and I have offered to continue the conversation by meeting with some of the young people concerned to discuss the issues raised by the Deputy. The benefit of the new legislation is that it will entitle young people to an aftercare plan for the first time. This will make a significant difference in terms of some of the issues raised by the Deputy. Up to this point it has been a matter of good practice only to provide an aftercare plan but Tusla will now be required by law to prepare an aftercare plan. I believe this is an important part of helping young people to achieve their potential as they prepare to leave care. This will be an advance.

In regard to implementation of the legislation, Tusla has introduced a new number of new practices and has developed dedicated aftercare teams. It has also standardised the financial supports that it offers to those leaving care and it is putting inter-agency aftercare committees in place at local level.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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All of what the Minister has mentioned is welcome. In regard to the business plan, I would welcome inclusion in that plan of a mechanism to document that every child entitled to an aftercare plan has received it. I would also like to see provision within the plan of capacity to ensure that any child leaving care who, like any other children of his or her age, decides to drop out of or change course, can be accommodated to remain in the same environment. Everybody is entitled to a second-chance. We are speaking in this regard about the toughest years in a child's life in terms of having to choose courses and so on. If they could remain in the same environment, it would be the best step forward.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I welcome the Deputy's passion and commitment on these issues. The Deputy is correct that it will be important that the relevant aspects of the legislation, once commenced, which I hope to do in the next couple of months, are monitored to ensure their effectiveness over time, which I can promise in terms of the ways in which Tusla has developed monitoring, statistics and percentages around how it is meeting its commitments.

That refers to policy objectives but also, in this case, legislative requirements. The business plan is necessary to identify how important this is in terms of my Department. That makes a difference in terms of the funding, about which the Deputy asked earlier. The Deputy's concern around ensuring that taking time out of education does not jeopardise the after-care plan is noted. I thank the Deputy.