Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her priorities for the future development of her Department in the aftermath of the forthcoming referendum on children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40889/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government established the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to drive the delivery of key commitments in relation to children and young people. The Department was set up in June 2011 with a mandate to put in place a unified framework of policy, legislation and provision across Government in respect of children and young people.

The Programme for Government commitments include:

- The holding of a Referendum in relation to the rights of children under the Constitution.

- The establishment of a Child and Family Support Agency on a statutory basis in order to fundamentally reform the delivery of child protection services and remove responsibility for these from the Health Service Executive (HSE).

- Implementing the recommendations of the Ryan Report, including putting the Children First: National Guidance on a statutory footing and legislating for the use of ‘soft information’.

- Maintaining the free pre-school year and improving its quality as resources allow.

- Enacting legislation to consolidate and reform the law on adoption.

- Investing in a targeted early childhood education programme for disadvantaged children, building on existing targeted pre-school supports for families most in need of assistance, such as the ‘young Ballymun’ project.

- Ending the practice of sending children to St. Patrick’s Institution.

In this context, the high-level objectives of my Department for the period to 2014, as set out in the Department’s Statement of Strategy are:

1. Develop, strengthen and align policies, legislation and resources in order to achieve better outcomes for children and young people and provide support for parents and families.

2. Monitor and evaluate performance through strong governance and accountability systems in respect of the responsibilities of the Department and its agencies.

3. Support the Department and key stakeholders in accessing better evidence and facilitating the active participation of children and young people in decisions that affect their individual and collective lives.

4. Improve systems for supporting families, safeguarding and protecting children, providing alternative care and assisting those young people whose behaviour poses a risk to themselves or others.

5. Support children and young people so that they can fully engage in active learning, including through the provision of high-quality early childhood care and education, youth services and addressing issues of school attendance and participation.

6. Collaborate with stakeholders, including across Government, in monitoring and promoting the physical, emotional and economic well-being of children and young people and reducing inequalities.

7. Be recognised as an organisation where, on an ongoing basis, high performance is achieved and personal development is supported .

In this context the Deputy will wish to be aware that a new Children and Young People’s Policy Framework is being developed in a holistic way to comprehend the continuum of the lifecourse from infancy, through early and middle childhood, to adolescence through to early adulthood, in keeping with my Department’s responsibilities for children and young people. It will be the overarching Framework under which policy and services for children and young people will be developed and implemented in the State.