Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when she expects the Child and Family Support Agency to be established; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15855/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Child and Family Support Agency is at the heart of the Government's reform of child and family services. The establishment of a single agency incorporating key children's services will provide a focus for the major reforms already underway. This reform programme contains a number of critical elements: The continued and urgent implementation of a comprehensive change programme to improve the quality and consistency of child welfare and protection services; The introduction of legislation to place Children First on a statutory basis; The establishment for the first time of a dedicated budget for children and family services, providing transparency and accountability for the use of resources to meet national priorities; The development of legislation to be brought before the Oireachtas later this year to provide for the operation of the new Agency from early 2013; The transition of existing HSE child protection and welfare and services into the new Agency; The merger of the existing Family Support Agency with a budget of over €26 million into the Child and Family Support Agency; Consideration of the potential for further rationalisation of services for children under the new Agency.

The Deputy will be aware of the comprehensive change programme currently being implemented under the leadership of Mr Gordon Jeyes, as National Director of Child and Family Services. Mr Jeyes was employed last year following an international, open recruitment process. The change programme underway is addressing the quality and consistency of child welfare and protection services. This change process will continue into the new Child and Family Support Agency where Gordon Jeyes will be the first Chief Executive. An open recruitment process is underway for a number of key senior positions for the Agency. I hope that this process delivers a very strong team to work with Gordon in leading the improvement of children's services.

Enhanced accountability is an important feature of the reforms. This greater transparency is already evident in the provision for the first time of a dedicated budget of €550 million for Children and Family Services in 2012. This will bring greater transparency and control to budgetary management and pave the way for the establishment of the new Agency in 2013.

The Task Force on the establishment of the Agency that I established has undertaken a considerable body of work in preparation for the new Agency. I met with the Task Force at their twelfth meeting held last month for an update on this work, which is also being advanced through two sub-groups. In the coming weeks I expect to receive the advice of the Task Force on a number of key issues which are critical to my decisions on legislative proposals regarding the new Agency and in particular, a vision for the Agency, governance arrangements and appropriate services for inclusion in the Agency.

As I have just outlined, extensive work is underway in my Department, in the HSE, and through the Task Force I set up last September to prepare for the establishment of the Child and Family Support Agency. The preparations are designed to allow for the Agency to assume full statutory responsibility for services for children and families early in 2013.

Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 13: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs following the Health Information and Quality Authority report on the Ballydowd Special Care Unit in Lucan, County Dublin, and the recent findings that the practices are unsuitable and unacceptable following their recent inspection and that there is a lack of social workers attending the unit and providing services to vulnerable children, the action she has taken following the HIQA report and her recent announcement of five new social work posts; the number of extra posts needed to reverse the practice in the Ballydowd Special Unit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15177/12]

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 42: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs following the Health Information and Quality Authority report on the Ballydowd Special Care Unit in Lucan, County Dublin, and the recent findings that the practices are unsuitable and unacceptable following their recent inspection and that there is a lack of social workers attending the unit and providing services to vulnerable children, the action she has taken following the HIQA report and her recent announcement of five new social work posts; the number of extra posts needed to reverse the practice in the Ballydowd Special Unit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15176/12]

Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs following the Health Information and Quality Authority report on the Ballydowd Special Care Unit in Lucan, County Dublin, and the recent findings that the practices are unsuitable and unacceptable following their recent inspection and that there is a lack of social workers attending the unit and providing services to vulnerable children, the action she has taken following the HIQA report and her recent announcement of five new social work posts; the number of extra posts needed to reverse the practice in the Ballydowd Special Unit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15201/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 42 and 52 together. The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) inspects Special Care Units annually under Section 69 of the Child Care Act 1991. HIQA undertook a full unannounced inspection of Ballydowd Special Care Unit on 3rd and 4th November 2011, as part of their annual inspection programme. The report of the findings from this inspection were published on 6th March last.

Inspectors found that there was a marked improvement in the standard of care in the unit since the last round of inspections in 2010. The main areas of improvement were in management, the delivery of care to the children and the overall presentation of the unit. The whole campus had been repainted and brought to a good overall standard. The safety concerns raised due to ongoing building works at the time had been well managed and risk assessed. The management of the unit had been strengthened by the introduction of good systems of accountability and clear lines of responsibility, which impacted positively on the day to day operations of the unit and the overall delivery of care to the children, staff practices and accountability. At the time of the inspection, a clinical team of child and adolescent psychiatry, child psychology and social work were available to the children in Ballydowd. Additionally, the inspectors also found that there were sufficient staffing to provide for optimal care for the children. Inspectors noted that all the children had an allocated social worker and were visited by social workers regularly. It was noted that social workers visited the children, met them privately and had access to their unit and bedrooms. Visits made by the children's Social Workers met the statutory requirements. Inspectors raised concerns regarding the impact of the building works on the space available to the children and the challenges posed by one child's complex needs.

HIQA inspected the unit against 40 standards and reported that 26 of these standards were met in full, 12 were partially met and 2 were not met. By way of comparison, in a July 2010 inspection, 6 out of 39 standards were met and 15 were not met. This clearly illustrates a marked improvement in findings during the most recent inspection. The 2 standards that were not met were in relation to "single separation" and "location and design".

It is very important that the facts of the care of one child in Ballydowd are clarified. There have been assumptions made that the care provided by the clinical and care staff Ballydowd to this young person fell below standards. Following this child's placement in Ballydowd, it became apparent that the child's full range of complex and demanding needs and behaviours could not be met in a Special Care Unit. Following a risk assessment by the clinical team and the acting director of the unit this child was cared for singly on their own in part of a Unit, whilst awaiting a specialist placement outside the country. This decision was approved by the clinical team, in conjunction with the placing social worker and team manager. The child had access to other children for limited periods, short periods in school and staff took the child on a range of outings. The decision on how to care for the child was reviewed by the clinical team on a weekly basis. There was no secrecy involved in the care programme for the child.

Inspectors expressed concerns in relation to this child on two matters. The first was the manner of recording the child being cared for in a separate part of the Unit. Inspectors considered the placement should have been recorded on a daily basis as a single separation. The HSE had taken the view that the child's placement was a single placement, and they would record as a single separation if the child was sent to his bedroom to be alone for a period. The second concern was the length of time the child was waiting for the specialist placement oversees. As this placement was outside this jurisdiction, and has many demands on its services, the social worker had limited influence to bring forward the child's date of admission. However I am glad to be able to say that shortly after the inspection, the child moved overseas to this specialist placement appropriate to his complex needs and continues to reside there.

There was no concern that a shortage of staff in the Unit influenced or impacted on the care of this child.

I welcome the findings of this report and the fact there are significant improvements since the inspections in 2010. My Department will continue to monitor the delivery special care services.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 14: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to develop a policy for children entering the care system who require high levels of support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15113/12]

Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children currently in the care system; the number of these children who require high levels of support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15114/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 51 together.

The primary legislation governing child care policy is the Child Care Act, 1991. Under this Act the Health Service Executive (HSE) has a statutory duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. Thus if a child is in need of care and protection and is unlikely to receive it at home, the HSE has a duty to ensure they receive appropriate care. In such circumstances children can be taken into care on a voluntary basis (on agreement with the parents) or under a various Court Orders under the Child Care Act, 1991.

Where a child is coming into care the allocated social worker undertakes a full assessment of need, and on this basis the statutory care plan is developed. This assessment will call on a full range of professionals where required to set out a comprehensive statement of the child's needs. The care plan also determines the support and interventions needed with regard to the family situation where it is planned that a child will return home. The care plan directs the placement most appropriate to the needs of the child and for the majority of children, over 90%, the child is placed in family foster care.

The HSE's published figures for December 2011 show there were 453 children placed across all forms of residential care. National and operational policy is that children of 12 years and under are placed in family placements where at all possible. Over 90% of children in residential care are 13 years and older, and the majority are placed in open children's residential centres in communities across the country. Typically between 3 and 5 young people live in the centre and are cared for by a qualified team of staff, attend at school and other activities similar to their peers.

The HSE provides care for children in their teenage years whose needs are such that they required additional support in High Support Units, in single residential placements and in Special Care Units. Additional support is provided in High Support Units and Single Placements to children over the age of 12 who are in need of specialised intervention. There are two Units with a national catchment area and management team and a number of specific smaller local Units. These units are open, the child is not detained. Typically, the Unit has a school/educational facility on site, a higher ratio of staff and support from psychologist, psychiatrist and other therapeutic interventions. High support units aim to assist young people in developing internal control of behaviour, to enhance self-esteem, facilitate personal abilities and strengths, and to build a capacity for constructive choice, resilience and responsibility.

The HSE commissioned an external review of alternative care services and this report is currently being finalised. I intend to carefully review the findings and recommendations of this review to ensure that the services on offer to our most vulnerable and needy children are of a high quality and are accessible. The HSE is already tracking those children in their care who are at risk, including looking at children with placement breakdown patterns, and this and other information gleaned from HSE audits and reviews and external inspections will inform future policy.

The development of the new Children and Family Support Agency is central to the reforms outlined in the Government's change programme to improve the quality and consistency of child welfare and protection services. The Taskforce appointed by me in September 2011 has undertaken a considerable body of work in preparation for the new Agency and I expect to receive the advice from the Task Force on the vision, governance and scope of services for the new Agency. These recommendations will be an important input into the development of detailed legislation to provide for the Agency and any future policy.