Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 585: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 538 of 15 November 2011, when a response will issue from the Health Service Executive. [14963/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The HSE did not collect information on the number of children who were discharged form care on reaching 18-years of age since 2005. A child may enter care for a short period of time or may have a number of entries into care during the year for short periods. Not all children leaving care are aged 18 years of age and children leave care for many reasons. The HSE has however provided a global estimate of the number of children who left care by calculating the number of children who were in care at the end of the previous year, the number of children who entered care during the year and subtracting that from the number of children in care at the end of that year. The information since 2006 is as follows:

Information in relation to 2011 is expected to be available from the HSE in May/June 2012.

I am advised that the HSE has begun to collect data on a quarterly basis regarding the number of children discharged from care by age from January 2012. This will include the number of children in care turning 18 during the year.