Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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101. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which the welfare of children in State care or in institutions continues to be monitored effectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36772/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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My Department receives regular detailed reports on key performance and activity indicators of service provision, including on children in care, from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. Officials also meet Tusla management as needed as well as regular meetings on a monthly and quarterly basis. Tusla has internal mechanisms for quality assurance of its services, in addition to the regulatory monitoring requirements, which include regular visits by a social worker to children in care and the inspection of private and voluntary children's residential centres.

My officials use information provided by Tusla to monitor the current status of service provision and the effect as reforms to services take effect. Activity indicators allow for attention to be focussed on areas where further improvement is required. In addition to regular reports, Tusla also provides occasional or special topic reports, as needed, which can then be used for budget and resource planning. It is also the case that Tusla would inform my Department of specific issues where risks are identified and to ensure that effective management responses are put in place.

At the end of July, 2015, there was a total of 6,394 children in care and of those 358 (5.6%) were in residential care. Tusla has responsibility for inspecting all private and voluntary children's residential centres and since the end of September these inspection reports are available on the Tusla website, www.tusla.ie.

In addition to the reporting arrangements with Tusla, my Department also reviews the findings of a number of independent bodies, which are made available in the inspection reports from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), who inspect all statutory children's residential centres and Special Care Units run by the State, as well as Fostering Services and Child Welfare and Protection Services in each area. My Department also receives reports on child deaths and serious incidents from the independently chaired National Review Panel, and reports from the Ombudsman for Children.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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102. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which the number of children in State care or fosterage has fluctuated over the past five yeas; the degree to which adequate provision continues to be made for supervision and ongoing review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36773/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has a statutory duty under the Child Care Act 1991 to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection and, if necessary, to receive a child into the care of the State. I am satisfied that Tusla takes its responsibility very seriously regarding the welfare of children in care and that there is a robust framework of regulations and standards, to ensure that children are placed in safe and caring settings. The following table shows the number of children in care at the end of each year, the number in foster care and the corresponding percentage.

All children in care should have an allocated social worker but it is important to note that if a child has not been allocated a social worker, the cases are reviewed regularly by the principal social worker and are managed by duty social work teams to ensure the necessary needs of the children are being met.

As the majority of children in care are in foster care family settings in the community, indicators of stability of the placement and participation in education are useful in monitoring the performance of Tusla in relation to overall welfare. I am happy to say that Tusla has reported that the results for these indicators are positive and show that placement stability is very high and participation in education is on a par with the national participation rates.

Foster carers are selected on the basis of their ability to meet the needs of individual children. In some cases a child may require a foster care placement with additional supports to meet additional needs and in these cases extra supports and respite facilities may be provided when required. Social work support is also provided for foster carers in the form of a link worker. The link worker is a professionally qualified social worker and meets regularly with foster carers to provide training, information and whatever other support that may be required.

I would also note that the Agency provides funding to the Irish Foster Care Association which provides additional supports to carers.