Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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548. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the language supports available to migrant children in care with poor standards of English; and the supports available to their foster carers in order that they may be able to assist them with normal activities such as helping with homework. [6379/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Under Section 3 of the Child Care Act, 1991, the Child and Family Agency has a duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and attention. Where a child is taken into the care of the State, the policy of the Agency is to place him/her in care settings, preferably in foster care, as in foster care, as close as possible to their home and community.

In 2013 the CFA ran a Foster Care Awareness Campaign to encourage carers from ethnic minorities to apply to foster in the hope of increasing the diverse pool of carers available to match the ethnic, cultural, religious and language needs of the country's increasingly diverse and secular society.

Separated Children Seeking Asylum

Where children are identified as Separated Children Seeking Asylum by An Garda Siochana their circumstances are investigated, and if there are any concerns about their welfare, they are placed into the care of the CFA. Young children are always placed with foster carers, and older children are either placed with a private foster company or following assessment and by their own preference, in dedicated children's residential accommodation. They are allocated a Social Worker, their needs are assessed and a Care Plan is developed. In both Dublin and Cork the Specialist Social Work Teams for Separated Children Seeking Asylum have developed a wide range of services to meet the needs of children presenting to this service including language support.

Any child or family referred to child protection services in the community who is deemed to require assistance will be offered interpreter services through their Social Work Team in order to facilitate their full engagement in services. The majority of unaccompanied children present in Dublin. The team has put in place a programme to provide separated children with language support, prior to entering mainstream school through the City of Dublin Education and Training Board Refugee Access Programme.

Foster Care

The Specialist Teams described above and all Social Work Fostering Teams throughout the country, in line with the National Foster Care Standards 2003, endeavour to place children "with carers who are chosen for their capacity to meet the assessed needs of the children and young people". This includes the provision of carers who can speak the child's language of origin where possible. In the rare circumstance where this is not possible, the social workers will contact the Embassy of the child's country of origin to seek the support of those from the child's own community of origin who are residing in Ireland. In all cases foster carers will be provided with extra Social Work link support so that the needs of the child are met. All assessment and care plan meetings will be carried out through an appropriate interpreter.

Educational Settings

All children, whether in residential care or with foster families, who are attending DEIS schools (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) can avail of school-based language initiatives under the DEIS strategy for Educational Disadvantage including English as an Additional Language. Some School Completion Programme Projects will also target after-school supports towards children who are in the early stages of learning English.

Social Workers will also identify community groups such as PAVEE Point and other NGO groups who may be able to provide linguistic and cultural support to the child and Foster Carers.

In 2013 the CFA ran a Foster Care Awareness Campaign to encourage carers from ethnic minorities to apply to foster in the hope of increasing the diverse pool of carers available to match the ethnic, cultural, religious and language needs of the country's increasingly diverse and secular society.