Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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564. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will outline the protocols put in place for the new child and family agency in dealing with service providers such as child and adolescent mental health services and public health nursing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6964/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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A key policy objective for the Child and Family Agency is to ensure that the fundamental principles of co-operation and co-ordination in the development and delivery of services are in place. This objective is reflected and is underpinned through formal agreements with the Health Service Executive as follows: -

- Joint Protocol for Inter-Agency collaboration between the HSE and the Child and Family Agency to promote the best interests of children and families. This protocol aims to ensure a consistent national approach to service delivery where the delivery of two or more services are involved in the same case.

- Memorandum of Understanding: Strategic Agreement between the Child and Family and the HSE

These agreements safeguard ongoing access to specialist services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Furthermore, children and their families will continue to access, in the usual way, the range of services provided within Primary Care including Public Health Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Speech & Language Therapy, Physiotherapy, Dietetics.