Written answers

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Children in Care

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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159. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children in care who have had more than three care placements in a year for the years 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013. [53223/13]

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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160. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children in care under 13 years of age who are currently placed in residential units. [53224/13]

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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161. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children in care who have an allocated social worker, broken down on the basis of the care status of the child, that is, if the child is placed in foster care, residential care or special care. [53225/13]

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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162. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children currently in the care of the State who have a formal care plan in place. [53226/13]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 159 to 162, inclusive, together.

The HSE compiles monthly performance reports which include statistics in relation to children in care. These reports are published on the HSE website. The latest figures published show that in September 2013:

- there were 38 (10.6% of children in residential care) children aged 12 or under placed in residential care;

- the total number of children in care who have an allocated social worker is 5,943 (91.9%), of whom 5,467 are in foster care (general/relative), 315 are in residential care, 23 are in special care, 15 are in high support care and 123 are in other care placements;

- the number of children in care who have a written care plan is 5,679.

There were 159 and 172 children who had more than 3 care placements in 2011 and 2012 respectively. In 2010, placements for children in Ireland were substantially more stable than for children in care in England and Wales, as evidenced by comparisons made by the HSE in its Review of Adequacy Report 2011. In 2010, 2.9% of children in care had 3 or more placements, compared to 10.7% and 10.3% of children in care in England and Wales respectively during the same period. As this is an annual metric only reported at year end, the figure for 2013 will not be available till March/April 2014.

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