Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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354. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the care plans that are being put in place by the relevant authorities for dealing with homeless families with children that are housed in emergency accommodation in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8173/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Policy responsibility for homelessness, insofar as it extends to my Department, relates to children under 18 and any child welfare and protection concerns that may arise in the context of the Child Care Act 1991. A child can only be received into the care of the Child and Family Agency where there are welfare or protection concerns and, as part of this process, care plans are devised. These care plans may, in certain instances, refer to additional supports required by the child’s family.

Homelessness as part of a family group is not, in of itself, a basis for seeking to receive a child into care. Furthermore, there is no statutory basis for the preparation of care plans for families with children entering emergency accommodation.

As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government recently issued a Ministerial Direction to the four Dublin local authorities and to certain other housing authorities prioritising homeless households and other vulnerable groups (including young people leaving State care) for housing in their respective areas for a six-month period. This measure should reduce the number of homeless persons including families in emergency accommodation.

The December 2014 Action Plan to Address Homelessness includes a commitment for the Child and Family Agency and Dublin City Council to coordinate operations to ensure that services are fully responsive to the particular protection and welfare needs that might arise for families in emergency accommodation.

The Child and Family Agency has advised me that they have had meetings with Focus Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and Dublin City Council in relation to vulnerable families and issues facing care leavers. The Agency intends to create a multi-agency protocol to be clear about individual agency and multi-agency responsibilities with regard to homelessness and work on this will commence shortly.

In cases where there are welfare or protection concerns in relation to children in families presenting as homeless, the reporting of such concerns to the Child and Family Agency is governed by Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children [2011].