Mary Henry (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and his new booklet, National Standards for Foster Care. A great deal of work has obviously gone into compiling it and it looks on the child as an individual and tries to tailor the care of each child to his or her needs. Let us hope that we can live up to all that is in the booklet. I am quite sure that the Minister of State is determined to do so but, like Senator Feighan, I am very concerned about the shortage of social workers in this area and appreciate that it is a stressful occupation and that many involved in it leave after some years. We are not producing enough social workers in the universities and perhaps the Minister of State will talk to his colleagues in the Department of Education and Science to see if some of the relevant courses could be expanded.

Foster families, as is said in the booklet, are either related or unrelated to the child and there are very many reasons why children end up in the care of the State and in foster care. Sometimes it is only for a short term because of illness in the family but in other cases, due to the breakdown of the family or the death of one or both parents, the children involved may be in foster care for a very long time. It is so important that we try to make sure that the individual needs of that child are looked after. Also, it is good to see so much emphasis being placed on what occurs when the child leaves foster care because we know of too many sad stories of children in residential units who were put outside the door on their 15th or 16th birthdays or whenever they reached the relevant age limit. They had very tough lives from then on.

The booklet is a blueprint and let us all hope that we live up to what is in it. I compliment the Minister of State on the booklet he produced for children. I had a chance to look at it and thought it was very readable and a very good idea. I am quite sure I can see young ones standing with it in hand citing it to whoever is standing before them, telling them what they are supposed to do. It is a good idea because it gives children a sense not just of their rights but also of their responsibilities. This is no harm because they will know what is expected of them. I was glad to see that sort of thing spelt out.