Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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260. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children that Tusla engages with each year; the typical levels of engagement that Tusla has; and the way in which Tusla measures its outcomes. [30358/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla-Child and Family Agency engages with thousands of children each year across all of its services. The level of engagement involved will be determined for each child and family by the needs identified in each case. It is not possible to provide a complete overview of all of the engagements between Tusla and children as this can be a once off or short term engagement or may involve a more sustained and targeted service for the child. Tusla regularly publishes performance and activity data about its services. However, this data is indicative of the use of these services only and is not intended to reflect all possible engagements that Tusla undertakes as part of its broad remit.

Tusla's Child Welfare and Protection Services provide an example. In March 2017, Tusla reported that there were 25,384 open cases, where each case represents a child in receipt of social work services. This number does not capture engagements with all referrals to Tusla of child welfare and protection concerns, of which there were 47,399 during 2016. Referrals are the subject of a preliminary enquiry and/or an initial assessment and in many instances this will involve engagement with a child and their family through, for example, family supports. In addition, Tusla provides a range of services which may involve working with children and families, including domestic violence services, adoption services, Education Welfare Services and Family Support Services. Data on a range of service performance indicators is available on Tusla's website (www.tusla.ie) and are published on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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261. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there is a parliamentary question liaison unit within Tusla. [30359/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is a public body which operates under the aegis of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I can confirm that Tusla has a designated unit in place which deals with Parliamentary Affairs.

The Parliamentary Affairs unit within Tusla provides information to my Department on request to inform responses to Parliamentary Questions and other Oireachtas Business, including representations.