Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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1243. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on a matter (details supplied) regarding child welfare and protection services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37306/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The document referred to by the Deputy relates to a range of issues set out by the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW). I do not intend to respond today to all of the specifics of that document. Overall I wish to recognise that the Child Welfare and Protection service is faced with considerable demands arising in part from the steady increase in referrals to the HSE social work services .

In order to ensure that the needs of children and families entering the system are met, it is important that referrals are evaluated by fully qualified and proficient staff who are also in a position to recommend appropriate responses. The IASW submission focuses on the need for additional social work staff staffing to achieve this, and in this context I can say that the latest HSE employment census indicates that the number of whole-time equivalent (WTE) social workers employed in the Children and Families service area was 1,397 at the end of June 2013. The census numbers reflect the outcome of a process of re-classification of social workers within the HSE into individual care groups, including Children and Families, to support the process of establishing the Child and Family Agency.

Social work staff levels are being kept under constant review and vacant positions are being filled in response to identified need. In this context a new panel of professionally qualified social workers was established in June 2013 to allow for the filling of vacancies in social work teams. A total of 114 vacant social worker posts have been approved for filling from this panel with a further 112 currently being filled.

In relation to care placements, the policy of the HSE is to place children in care settings, preferably in foster care, as close as possible to their home and community. The vast majority of children in care are in foster care. Some children have highly specialised needs arising from severe behaviour difficulties, in some cases as a result of injury, accident or disability or in others due to their childhood experiences. The care needs of these children are generally met by directly provided or commissioned. There was an increase of 44.27% in the number of foster families between 2009 and 2012 from 2,959 to 4,269. This has improved the capacity of the service to provide appropriate care placements, and has outstripped the 11.5% increase in the number of children in care during this period.

There is a comprehensive change programme currently being implemented in Children and Family Services. This programme is addressing the quality and consistency of child welfare and protection services, both currently and in preparation for the establishment of the new Child and Family Agency, which is imminent. Resourcing is one element of this change programme, but equally important in structuring the new Agency is the need to enhance multi-disciplinary and inter-agency co-operation to ensure the provision of more streamlined and integrated services for children and families.