Déirdre de Búrca (Green Party)

I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on his promotion. It is not an enviable task. The "Prime Time Investigates" programme has concentrated much public attention on the Minister of State's area of responsibility and that is the context in which this debate is taking place. It is always important not to respond in a reactive way to media-generated headlines but many of the issues and gaps in services highlighted in the programme are a real concern and I know the Minister of State will look at them during his time in office.

Rather than focus on some of the claims made in the programme, I would prefer to look at the broader policy framework in which child protection occurs in this State. I will start with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Ireland signed up without reservation in 1992. The convention places a positive duty on the State to protect and support children and their families. Article 19 of that convention states:

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.

2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.

I refer to an official assessment of the State's performance carried out by the Children's Rights Alliance which produced a report entitled, From Rhetoric to Rights, Second Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. This report reflected its views on the progress made by the State and it was published in March 2006. While approximately two years have elapsed, the findings of the report pretty much echo some of the findings of the "Prime Time Investigates" programme on this issue.

In regard to services for those most at risk, the shadow report stated:

Significant numbers of children in Ireland experience disadvantage, including those living in poverty, early school-leavers, homeless young people, those living with addiction or mental illness (either their own or that of a parent) or those who are part of a disadvantaged ethnic minority. Much more needs to be done to support these children and their families through comprehensive preventive and early intervention services (rather than crisis intervention only), to coordinate the services targeted at these children, and to ensure that allocated funding produces positive outcomes.

These themes are consistent throughout the report. There is a big emphasis on preventive and early intervention services. There is a critique of the fact that much of the funding and official services tend to be focused on crisis intervention and there is repeated reference to the fact that services are not as well co-ordinated as they should be. Evaluation is also highlighted as is the importance of ensuring the funding allocated to these services produces positive outcomes.

Another important issue highlighted in the report is inappropriate services and placements. The report points out that inappropriate services are often used to treat troubled children — those with mental health or behavioural difficulty, those who are in contact with the criminal justice system and those for whom there are abuse concerns. The report states that because of a lack of adequate planning, investment and co-ordination in regard to both crisis and preventive services, the line is often blurred between welfare, criminal and health interventions.

It further states:

In this context, the response to the needs of children with complex problems is too often determined by whatever service is available, even if the placement is inappropriate or potentially damaging. For example, children have been inappropriately placed in youth detention centres (when they have not committed a crime) and in adult psychiatric hospitals.

The report calls on the Government to actively commit itself to fulfil its obligations to children under the convention by creating sufficient and appropriate welfare, preventive and rehabilitative services that take into account children's best interests.

As far as family support services are concerned, the report welcomes the establishment of the Family Support Agency in 1998 but points out that family support services lack an integrated structure, that the availability of services varies greatly across the country and that responsibility for the services is split between two agencies, the Health Service Executive, which is responsible for individual families at risk, and the Department of Social and Family Affairs, which is responsible for general community-based family support services. It also points out that seven other Departments have responsibility for certain programmes for families and children and that there is a reliance by the Government on community groups to provide many family services. However, it points out that the sector is under-resourced and under-supported to deal with the range of issues it confronts.

The report usefully suggests that a comprehensive audit of all support services for families and children provided by the Health Service Executive and the Department of Social and Family Affairs is needed to identify where services are being provided, where there are gaps and to assess the quality of services. It recommends that this audit would be the basis for the development of a comprehensive support services strategy to meet the needs of vulnerable children and families and those with special needs.

The report also suggests that the support services strategy drawn up should provide for the evaluation of outcomes of family support services and for the mainstreaming of examples of best practice. It adds that parents and children, who are the beneficiaries of these services, should be involved in the implementation and evaluation processes.

As I mentioned, the report emphasises prevention over crisis intervention and states that a key issue which a support services strategy must address is the fact that at present, the capacity and focus of social services is limited to crisis intervention and child protection and the result is that preventive and support services are seriously under-developed. It calls for the provision of multidisciplinary professional teams to provide preventive and therapeutic services to move the emphasis away from crisis intervention.

However, it also points out that there are ongoing difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified and experienced staff and that this must be addressed. It suggests that one of the ways this could be done is through providing workers with adequate inservice support, supervision and training. Lack of the above is thought to be the reason for much of the problem in holding on to experienced staff.

The report refers to the need for a 24-hour social work service. It points out that HSE social work services are not available outside office hours with the exception of a service for homeless children in Dublin on weekdays and that the absence of a general out of hours social work service is delaying the implementation of the youth justice diversionary provisions in the Children Act 2001.

The report calls for the publication of two Government reviews of compliance with the Children First guidelines, the non-statutory guidelines on procedures for preventing child abuse and responding to allegations and suspicions of abuse.

The recommendations of the report, which are very comprehensive, apply today even though the report was drawn up two years ago. They include placing the Children First guidelines on a statutory footing; developing a national child abuse prevention strategy; establishing a 24-hour seven-day-week social work service; ensuring adequate levels of support for staff, including social workers and better supports; conducting an audit of all support services for families and children provided by both the HSE and the Department of Social and Family Affairs and to use this as the basis for a comprehensive support services strategy to meet the needs of all families; implementing a plan of action to provide training in the Children First guidelines to all professionals and volunteers working with children; systematically involving children and parents in designing support services and policies; implementing on a national level the recommendations made in Listen to Me! Children's Experience of Domestic Violence; and, revising the Children First guidelines to take specific account of the needs of migrant children.