Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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28. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the responsibility her Department has for children who are placed in emergency homeless accommodation; the steps her Department is taking to care for these children; her views on whether there should be a statutory limit on the amount of time that a child can spend in emergency accommodation; and her further views on whether Tusla should be awarded statutory responsibility for children using homeless accommodation. [40304/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Being homeless is distressing and stressful for children and adults alike. In the context of the Child Care Act 1991, my Department has policy responsibility for children under 18 years of age who present as "out of home" without their parent or guardian.

Children under the age of 16 years who present as homeless without their parent or guardian are taken into care. Children aged 16 years and 17 years may be taken into care or provided with a service under section 5 of the Child Care Act 1991, which deals with accommodation for homeless children.

Children who are homeless and in emergency accommodation are in the care of their parent or parents. Given the clearly challenging circumstances in which families in emergency accommodation find themselves, I do not believe that residing in emergency accommodation, in and of itself, should be the basis for taking children into care. Where there are no welfare or protection concerns, Tusla’s role is to provide family support where required.

Tusla has agreed a joint protocol with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE. This governs child welfare protection matters for children in emergency accommodation. It is fully operational in the DRHE area and it is intended to roll it out across the State. It will be extended to Galway, Limerick and Cork in 2017.

My Department is working closely with Tusla to provide additional supports for families in emergency accommodation and those at risk of homelessness.

All of our family resource centres, FRCs, are working with people who are experiencing homelessness. This was confirmed this week at a meeting of the family resource centre forum. Many FRCs have already developed a local response to the needs of families in emergency accommodation.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I accept what the Minister says, but this is not about taking children into care. The nub of the question is about children in emergency accommodation and the timeframe for that. The reason I tabled this question today is that recently I tabled the same parliamentary question and the answer I received is the same as what the Minister just said. It stated that the policy responsibility for homelessness in so far as it extends to the Minister's Department relates to children under 18 years of age and any child welfare and protection concerns that might arise in the context of the Child Care Act 1991. My concern is the length of time that children are left in accommodation for the homeless, that is, being moved from one bed and breakfast room to another, over and back across the city and the uncertainty of that. Who is there to protect the child? The Minister said there are no protection issues, but we do not know that because we are not watching. We are not vetting where we are sending families when they are going from one bed and breakfast setting to another. That is where I am seeking the support of Tusla.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I, too, am concerned about the amount of time involved. In both my written response to the Deputy and my oral response today, I am trying to make it perfectly clear that the statutory responsibility of Tusla is for the care and protection of children who may require it. That does not necessarily mean if they are with their parents in emergency accommodation. The agency's statutory responsibility does not extend to that. At the same time, I agree that it is very important to ensure that they are in emergency accommodation for as little time as possible. In the overall Rebuilding Ireland - an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness response, my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, is trying to ensure that this timeframe reduces. However, while they are in that accommodation Tusla took on the responsibility of working with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to develop safety and protection policies to be provided for children in emergency accommodation. That has been developed in draft form and it will be rolled out in the new year.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to my question again. Does the Minister believe that Tusla should have a statutory responsibility of support? Does she agree that responsibility should not lie with the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and that Tusla should have an input into the governance around how long children and families are spending in emergency accommodation? There should be joined-up thinking. I applaud what is happening in Dublin and I welcome that it will be rolled out to the other cities. However, we must focus on the children. We should put the child at the centre and join the dots between Tusla, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and local government, because there is a piece missing. That piece relates to how long children are spending going from A to B. Who is watching out for the child attending the general practitioner, the child regularly attending school or the child having continuity with their friends and family? As long as they are in emergency homeless accommodation they are going from A to B to C all of the time.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I appreciate the Deputy's passion and commitment on this, and it is important we share that. It will enable a quicker resolution to these issues if we work on this together along with our other colleagues. However, I question some of the Deputy's statements. Although Tusla does not have a statutory responsibility per sefor the care of children in emergency accommodation because they are with their parents, that does not mean Tusla is not working under my direction to ensure, particularly through the family resource centres although not exclusively through them, that they have the additional supports that are required to ensure their care and protection while they are in emergency accommodation. In that regard Tusla has developed and conducted a mapping exercise that profiles each area and what is available in each of the family resource centres throughout the country. I have information on the family resource centres in Galway that I will be happy to share with the Deputy after this exchange.