Written answers

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Child Protection

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will set out her proposals to enhance the extent of child protection measures throughout the country with particular reference to early intervention in situations of suspected child abuse of a physical and/or sexual nature; the extent to which adequate resources are available to her Department in line with assessments undertaken in this regard by her officials; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7579/13]

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which she intends to enhance the procedures to ensure a rapid response to reports and/or suspicions of child abuse; if she has in mind any particular initiatives in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7580/13]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 and 197 together.

The Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, which I published in 2011, provides clarity and guidance for individuals and organisations in identifying and responding appropriately to child abuse and neglect. It also sets out what organisations that care for or work with children should do to ensure they are safe whilst in the care of the organisation.

Child Welfare and Protection Referrals and Assessment

Once a referral has been made to the HSE Children and Family Services all cases are managed through a standardised business process. All reports of concern for the safety or well-being of a child are handled initially by the Duty/Intake team for the purposes of assessment. All staff receiving such a referral are trained in the duty system and are obliged to treat seriously all child welfare and protection concerns whatever their source. Once a report has been made the screening stage deals with the information reported and preliminary enquiries are concerned with formulating an appropriate response.

Once it is agreed by the Duty Team Leader that it is a correct referral the case is allocated immediately for an Initial Assessment. This is a time limited process to allow the gathering of sufficient information on the needs and risks within a case so that informed decisions and recommendations can be made and actions that will result in better outcomes for children are taken. The duty team leader, together with members of the team, will categorise the information received under the following categories:

- level 1 - child and family must be seen immediately

- level 2 - child and family must be seem within 3 days

- level 3 - child and family must be seem within 7 days

Comprehensive information on the extensive process is available on the HSE website under the Standardised Business Process documentation.

Children and Family Services Change Programme

Currently, HSE Children and Family Services are engaged in a major programme of reform. A major element of the reform programme involves implementing consistent and timely child protection procedures in line with the revised Children First National Guidance, through a single, national, service delivery model, which is in development, and through the introduction of a National Child Care Information System (NCCIS). The NCCIS will be the central system supporting Social Work services. As a social work case management system, it will be used to record and store the case history of every child and other clients of the service. Management information will be derived automatically from the case management system. The introduction of the NCCIS is a high priority and will help in the management of social work case management and will significantly improve the level, quality and accessibility of information in respect of Children and Family Services.

Resources

The Deputy will be aware that Children First has operated on the basis of voluntary compliance since it was first published by the then Department of Health and Children in 1999. Significant resources have been put in place to support the implementation of Children First and in the case of the HSE and An Garda Síochána, Children First has formed an integral part of their existing operations and practices. The HSE has provided training, information and advice on the implementation of Children First throughout the HSE, voluntary and community sector. In addition to the existing structures in place to support Children First , significant additional resources have been provided to the HSE over the past few years to increase the number of social workers in the child welfare and protection area. The recruitment of these additional social workers was included in the Ryan Report Implementation Plan, as was the commitment to place Children First on a statutory basis.

Children First Legislation

The Deputy will be aware that I published the in April 2012. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that organisations and professionals who work with children have a statutory responsibility to report reasonable concerns about the abuse or neglect of children in their care to the HSE Child and Family Services. I asked the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children to consider the Heads of the Children First Bill and make recommendations. Following receipt of the Committee’s report, my Department is currently, in preparation of the legislation, considering the recommendations along with the broad range of submissions made, including any need for additional reporting guidance.

New Child and Family Support Agency

The commitment to establish a new Child and Family Support Agency is at the heart of the Government's reform of child and family services. The new Agency will assume responsibility for Children and Family Services, currently provided by the HSE, and the Family Support Agency. It will have a workforce of approximately 4,000 staff, and a combined existing budget of over €590 million. The Agency will be headed by Gordon Jeyes, as the Chief Executive designate, who will be supported by a senior management team.

In order to achieve genuine improvements for children and families, the Agency will have a broader focus than child protection. Prevention, early intervention, family support and therapeutic & care interventions are all key to the provision of integrated multi-disciplinary services for children and families based on identified need. It is my intention that the new Agency will address the persistent issues which have been raised regarding the standardisation of services, communication, coordination and sharing of risk assessment, management and treatment for many of the children and families with the most complex needs. At the same time, the Agency will have a role in supporting families - providing less complex, less intrusive and less expensive responses which have a preventive function. The new Child and Family Support Agency and the wider transformation of children's services represents one of the largest, and most ambitious, areas of public sector of reform embarked upon by this Government.

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