Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being in the Chamber today during what is a very busy week for the Government. I was pleased to note in yesterday's budget an increase in the funding to be made available to the Child and Family Agency. I look forward to hearing more from the Minister's Department as to where these additional resources will be specifically allocated.

Last week I spoke in the Seanad on the challenges faced by Irish care leavers in the transition into further education. It is very important that we speak about children in care and the issues faced by our care-experienced young people on a regular basis. We often hear that this vulnerable group does not feel seen or heard.

The issue I will speak about today is one that, if acted on, will ensure that care-experienced young people are seen, heard and adequately supported. In the 2009 Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, widely known as the Ryan report, a wide range of recommendations were made to ensure that the tragedies inflicted on young people in the care of the State were never repeated. Most of these recommendations have, thankfully, been acted on in the intervening 11 years, but a number remain on hold for one reason or another. One such recommendation relates to the commencement of a longitudinal study of children in care and aftercare, to measure and evaluate their outcomes versus the majority of young people that are cared for in home. This was a very important recommendation from the Ryan report and it is a great shame that it has not yet been advanced given the insights we stand to take from the study and the impact this learning could have on the future service provision for children and families.

As the Minister will be aware, care-experienced young people and young adults face challenges in their lives that many of us struggle to even comprehend. These challenges affect the young person throughout the course of his or her life, and do not simply disappear when the young person first comes into care and later transitions to after-care or returns to the family of origin. These challenges affect many young people's ability to develop in line with expectation, and to learn to sustain healthy relationships in childhood and adulthood. We know this because of anecdotal accounts provided by care-experienced young people, social workers, and social care professionals, and by advocacy groups like Empowering People in Care, EPIC, and the Irish Foster Care Association. We should not have to rely on evidence like this from people. Instead, we should undertake a comprehensive longitudinal study of children in care and aftercare, and explore how the data gathered over the course of the study can improve the future provision of services to children and families in the State.Previous Governments committed to this study being undertaken, but, unfortunately, it remains on the back-burner. To date, we have had recommendations from the Ryan report and agreed to their implementation and undertaken scoping exercises and feasibility studies, but the proposed study has still not commenced. There are barriers to undertaking a study of this nature but, as demonstrated by the feasibility study undertaken in 2018, they are not insurmountable. As I know the Minister of State will agree, our care-experienced young people are deserving of that effort.

Similar studies have been undertaken in other jurisdictions. We even have a precedent for longitudinal study of young people in this country in the form of Growing up in Ireland. Given the specificities the experiences of young people in care, however, we require a study which focuses on the specific experiences of many challenges faced by young people in care and aftercare and on the unique needs of a vulnerable group in Irish society. Without it, care-experienced young people will continue to feel unseen and unheard in comparison with their majority peers. Young people who cannot be cared for at home deserve better. By committing to the commencement of the longitudinal study, which was first proposed in the Ryan report, we can demonstrate to young people with care experience that we see them, hear them and are working hard to ensure that they achieve the best outcomes and the brightest futures that they so deserve.