Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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42. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to widespread reports that a large number of those children leaving foster care here on their 18th birthday do not receive aftercare support plans; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7352/17]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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This is a question I have asked previously and it is to do with the widespread reports that a large number of children leaving foster care on their 18th birthday do not receive aftercare support plans. I ask the Minister to make a statement on that.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Rabbitte. I am happy to reply to her question again, with perhaps some additional information.

Under Tusla's current national leaving and aftercare policy, young people leaving care are expected to have an aftercare plan. Tusla has informed me that from January up to the end of September 2016, 467 young persons in care turned 18 years of age. Of these, 457 young people were eligible for aftercare supports and 412 are availing of the aftercare supports. There were a total of 1,841 young people aged 18 to 22 years in receipt of aftercare supports from Tusla at the end of the third quarter in 2016, and 82% of these young people had an aftercare plan in place.

Tusla is putting in place revisions to its operational national leaving and aftercare policy to bring it into line with the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015. Once the amendments to the 1991 Act are commenced there will be a statutory obligation on Tusla to have an aftercare plan prior to the young person leaving care. Those who have left care before the changes and who do not have an aftercare plan can, under these amendments, obtain an aftercare plan from Tusla up to their 21st birthday. Tusla is identifying gaps in the aftercare service nationally and has indicated that this will require an expansion in aftercare management and workers. Tusla is currently finalising arrangements for the publication of its 2017 business plan, which sets out the priorities for these important services in 2017. Its 2017 budget, as Deputy Rabbitte knows, was increased by €37 million, bringing its funding to over €700 million in Exchequer funding, and this included additional funding to support service delivery to implement legislation.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I heard everything the Minister said, including the figures and so on, but I am meeting the people on the ground. I attended the Empowering People in Care, EPIC, conference before Christmas and the main point from it was the lack of access to aftercare plans and the lack of continuity with social care workers. That they did not have that was their biggest concern.

I met with a provider last week who looks after children in residential care to whom I put the question of aftercare, and I did not get a positive response. He told me of the 18 year old who is literally left at the front door with black bags. That is not what I call an aftercare plan and whether it is Tusla, or whatever organisation is responsible, we need more than statistics. I need to hear that as does the Minister. The social care workers must tell us that their aftercare plans are working but that is not what I am hearing.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As Deputy Rabbitte knows, I always appreciate hearing her examples and about the conversations she is having as it is important for me, as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, to hear that as I feed into, in terms of my priorities, what Tusla is doing, particularly with regard to aftercare which, as I indicated to the Deputy earlier, it is reviewing.

Statistics are important but as the Deputy said, they are not everything. I will make some additional comments in response to the questions the Deputy raised. I refer to young persons who are eligible but perhaps not availing of supports. Young persons who are eligible for aftercare supports may choose not to avail of them. I accept that is not Deputy Rabbitte's example but there are instances where that is the case. However, Tusla maintains contact with the young person where that is possible. The young person may have disengaged with Tusla as they return to the wider family for support or for their own reasons but Tusla keeps the door open for contact and will help in terms of the immediate and longer term support for the young person that can be provided by the State. There are supports also that are provided by Tusla without an aftercare plan.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. The reason I continue to harp on about this issue is because for the 233 children in full-time residential care, the only people who are responsible for them and charged with their governance - effectively their parents - are this Government. I continue to ask the question because we have a duty of care to those young people who sometimes do not have a voice, do not know how to access the proper services or might be misguided because they think they know it all at 17 or 18 years of age when in fact they do not. It is not just me conveying what I am experiencing. Focus Ireland, in its submission to Tusla, stated that one of the problems was the lack of continuity among social care workers, that relationships had not been built and that young people below the age of 16 or 18 years are not governed by having the aftercare plan. I raise this issue with the Minister on a regular basis for the simple reason that we are the parents governing these children.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I accept and acknowledge the responsibilities of which Deputy Rabbitte speaks. It is correct that she should do so. What I have been indicating is an awareness of what the Deputy is saying while at the same time giving a commitment, as the Deputy has done, to ensure that the aftercare provisions are improved on and that any young person who wants to engage in aftercare as they age out of care has the possibility of doing that. In terms of the numbers, I have indicated to the Deputy that most of them do have that at this stage. However, Tusla is aware that there are gaps in the aftercare service nationally and it is revising its policy on aftercare and carrying out a number of consultations in that regard. It has also mapped the availability of aftercare staff nationally and identified a number of areas that could benefit from additional aftercare sources. Its business plan commits to the completion of aftercare policy and supporting documents by the second quarter of 2017. It is currently recruiting social care staff, including recent graduates, who will allow Tusla to fill the gaps in its services. In those ways it is, under my direction, following an effort to prioritise and increase the capacity of provision of aftercare plans.