Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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1205. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there is the same access and level of services available to children with special needs who are either fostered or adopted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9919/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I should inform the Deputy at the outset that responsibility for disability services rests with the Minister for Health. The statutory duty of the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, is to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. There are many reasons for children coming into Tusla's care including abuse and neglect but disability alone, whether intellectual or physical, is not one.

Tusla provides child welfare and protection services to all children, including those with special needs. I am advised by Tusla that children in care who have been diagnosed by a clinical specialist as having a moderate or severe disability avail of disability services operated by the HSE. In some cases, this includes residential care provided by Disability Services.

It is Tusla’s responsibility to respond to any concern or report of abuse or risk of abuse to any child, irrespective of a disability or whether they are at home, already in care or living in a HSE residential centre provided by Disability Services. In such circumstances, Tusla will assess the child's situation. Decisions by Tusla to apply for a care order with respect to a child with a moderate or severe disability are made at a multidisciplinary case conference where the views of professionals who have long established knowledge of the child and family are heard.

Placement is based on assessed need. A child with a disability may be placed with a Tusla foster care family or residential unit and receive disability services. Of the 6,398 children in care at the end of February 2016, 93% were in foster care. Where a child is already attending a disability service it may be in the child's best interests to be placed in the disability service's residential care to allow for continuation of relationships, care planning and to avoid a disruption in placement when the child reaches the age of 18 and is discharged from Tusla's care. Tusla and the HSE have a joint protocol for inter-agency collaboration which underpins service provision for children whose needs span health and child protection.

When a child is adopted he/she is considered a child of the adopter(s) and may access the full range of services which are currently available to all Irish children. These include specialist psychiatric and psychological services, health services and speech and language services. Barnardos also provides professional supports to children adopted from abroad and their families who are living in the Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow area on a range of post adoption issues. In other areas, Tusla Adoption services provide information on the availability of local services, access to the social work duty system and facilitate peer support groups for parents of adopted children.