Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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518. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if public health nurses are excluded from the remit of the Child and Family Agency; if she will be liaising with the Department of Health to introduce reforms in the public health nursing system to support public health nurses in their vital role as the first point of contact with many families and potentially assisting the provision of early intervention to families in need. [54038/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The legislation to establish the new Child and Family Agency (CFA) has recently completed its passage through the Oireachtas. The Child and Family Agency Bill has been signed by the President and it is now the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 (No. 40 of 2013). The necessary Commencement and Establishment Orders are in preparation to allow for establishment of the Agency on 1 January 2014 as planned. The establishment of the Child and Family Agency is a key priority for the Government. From its establishment the Agency will have service responsibility for: Child welfare and protection services currently operated by the HSE including family support and alternative care services; child and family-related services for which the HSE currently has responsibility including pre-school inspections and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services; services relating to the psychological welfare of children and their families currently provided by the HSE; the Family Support Agency and the National Educational Welfare Board which currently operate as separate bodies under the Department of Children and Youth Affairs will be merged into the new Agency; the Task Force on the Child and Family Support Agency made recommendations on a range of other services relevant to children and families, including public health nursing, speech and language therapy, child and adolescent mental health and children’s detention.

The practical implications of the scale of organisational change already outlined in the legislation are such as to require that consideration of these wider recommendations and, should it be considered appropriate, their implementation take place according to a less immediate timescale. This will allow for more careful review and consideration in conjunction with relevant Departments, principally the Department of Health.

A joint protocol for inter-agency working between the HSE and the Child and Family Agency, when established, has been prepared following extensive dialogue between Children and Family Services, Primary Care, Disability Services and Mental Health Services. The protocol aims to ensure a consistent national approach to service delivery where two or more services are involved in the same case. The protocol provides for local collaboration across care groups at local practitioner level with a mechanism for escalation to Area level and beyond if required. The Department, and the Child and Family Agency upon establishment, will continue to advance such a collaborative approach in conjunction with the Department of Health and the HSE.