Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber and wish him every success in his new position. I do not wish to repeat the concerns and issues raised by my colleagues so far but will use the time available to raise some additional issues and thoughts. I welcome this debate, which is essential. This is an issue which has touched everyone in our society. It has been the main topic of conversation for the past week and has given rise to anxiety, concern and much soul searching.

Often when one thinks of child welfare and child protection, one thinks in terms of an urgent response to an emergency situation. That clearly is one aspect of the issue but if we are serious about delivering the best possible child welfare, we must ensure our mindset is not limited only to this aspect. There are other aspects that are essential for the delivery of child welfare that reflect a positive and proactive promotion of well-being. Putting in place measures that promote the well-being of children and that can detect risk, identify indicators and allow for effective intervention can prevent the occurrence of emergency situations in the first place. More importantly, such measures can prevent the infliction of hurt, pain and damage that such emergency situations bring with them. The Health Service Executive child welfare and protection service strives to do this and the individuals working in this service work extremely hard and are very committed to best practice and ensuring they deliver the best possible service to the children with whom they work.

I take this opportunity, with the Minister of State present, to outline briefly some issues, challenges and possible measures to be taken in both reactive and preventative aspects of child welfare. On the issue of the measures in place to respond to emergency situations, I welcome that the HSE has initiated a detailed consultation and reporting process to ascertain the current state of the waiting list issues raised on "Prime Time". This exercise is expected to be completed and a report prepared for the Minister of State before the end of June. It is essential we have accurate information. I suggest that the aforementioned report be accompanied by proposals on how the identified need on the waiting list can be tackled.

It is imperative that public confidence is maintained in the State's capacity to respond and intervene in the protection of children. It is essential we do not send out the message that if somebody is concerned about the protection of a child, there is little point in coming forward. That is not the case.

I welcome the fact that the Minister of State will chair regular meetings between officials of the HSE and the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I also welcome that the HSE is recruiting 47 social workers to fill some of the 158 current vacancies and that 335 social posts have been created since 2005. I ask the Minister of State if a timeframe for filling the remaining vacancies has been established.

I understand that the Children First guidelines are under review. Can the Minister of State indicate when this review will be completed? The Children First guide and handbook provides excellent information not only for State services but also for community, voluntary and sporting organisations which are keen to play a role in the protection of children and to ensure they are in keeping with best practice.

The vetting and training of all individuals who work with children plays a crucial role in preserving the safety of children. I welcome the role played by the Garda vetting unit and the extension of the vetting service to voluntary organisations. At present, this is a useful tool only in the screening of individuals with prior convictions but is of incalculable value. We will have to face up to the dilemma concerning the use of soft information and data other than that relating to convictions. Information that can also be considered as soft is often gleaned by the HSE and its child protection services. Consideration of how we use such information in the future presents us with a difficult dilemma. However, this issue is being considered by an all-party Oireachtas Committee, which I welcome. Considerable work is being undertaken by all Members to meet the challenges and to ensure the strongest possible vetting procedures are in place to maximise the protection of children in a manner that is appropriately balanced with justice for individuals.

It is essential that all people working with children are trained in keeping with best practice, are familiar with guidelines such as Children First, are aware of indicators that a child may be at risk or in distress and are familiar with how to respond and the appropriate action to take. I welcome that the social work out-of-hours service proposals from the HSE are under consideration to determine how this service can best be introduced nationwide. There are a number of out-of-hours service arrangements in place to partially cover need throughout the country.

It is appropriate to note that social work teams, their management and the people who support them, who must routinely work with difficult and complex issues, are very hard-working and dedicated. Given this, it is essential to ensure supports for people who work on the front line are in place to enable them to work at their most effective at all times. I welcome the various support programmes that have been undertaken by the HSE in conjunction with bodies such as the Family Support Agency which provides valuable parenting capacity building, play skills, behaviour management programmes and so forth.

I wish to refer to a few groups of children who are especially at risk. I welcome the extension of the inspection of residential services to residential services for children with disabilities. These were previously exempt from inspection, which was unacceptable given the particular vulnerability of their clients. I also draw the Minister of State's attention to the residential services provided by the HSE for unaccompanied minors and take this opportunity to raise the plight of approximately 400 such children who are unaccounted for who were registered with the HSE. These children are clearly vulnerable and have no one to speak up for them or to monitor the search and efforts to locate them.

Could an agreed protocol be put in place for any such child who goes missing with a more robust protocol for anyone seeking to claim custody of such a child? At present it is only required that the child and the adult who comes forward to claim the child would have a similar story. That is not sufficiently robust to protect the unaccompanied minor. The Minister of State might consider the value of appointing advocates for such children, as they clearly do not have anyone else to speak up for them.

Will the Minister of State also consider the plight of families where parents have an intellectual disability? An increasing number of such families are coming to light where the intellectual disability was not initially picked up and the necessary supports were not put in place. The children of these families come before the HSE child protection services and their cases end up in the courts system, which causes considerable distress to the children and their parents, in respect of whom supports could have been put in place previously.

I wish the Minister of State all the best in this challenging portfolio and I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence.