Written answers

Monday, 11 September 2017

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Child Care Services

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1655. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to an organisation (details supplied); and if her attention has been further drawn to a proposal to set up operations in a specific location; and her views regarding same. [37617/17]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am aware that concerns have been raised in the community in question regarding a proposed Children’s Residential Centre and I understand that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and the organisation in question have been in contact with local residents to discuss these concerns.

Under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, Tusla is charged with offering care and protection for children in circumstances where their parents have not been able to, or are unlikely to, provide the care that a child needs. One of their priorities is to provide safer, more reliable and effective services for children in care and to develop a range of placement options. Children’s Residential Centres, such as the proposed centre in question, are one aspect of this important work.

When a child or young person comes into care, a number of decisions will be made in relation to where they will live, their ongoing education, the supports that they will receive, and the contact that they will have with their families. These decisions are documented in the child’s care plan, which is tailored for the identified needs of the child. While a remote, rural location will not be suitable to every child or young person, I see nothing inherently wrong with having such placements available as part of a wide range of options for children in care across the country.

With regards to this particular centre, I would like to make it clear that the centre must register with Tusla before any young people will be placed there. Like all such centres, it will undergo thorough assessments to ensure that it fulfils its purpose and function, that it has satisfactory management and staffing in place and that it provides appropriate care, safeguarding and planning for the young people in its care. The requirements for placing a child or young person in a Children’s Residential Centre and for the running of these centres are laid out in the Child Care (Placement of Children in Residential Care) Regulations 1995. All Children’s Residential Centres are subject to statutory inspection against National Standards. HIQA are currently in the process of revising these standards.

I would also like to outline the important service provided by these residential centres for some of our most vulnerable children and young people. While foster care is the preferred form of alternative care in Ireland, sometimes this may not be the most appropriate option. A child or young person may instead be placed with Children’s Residential Services. Of the 6308 children in care at the end of Q1 2017, 92% were in foster care, while 5.6% were in a general residential placement.

Children’s Residential Services aim to provide a physically, emotionally and psychologically safe space in which children and young people can heal, develop and move forward in their lives. The vast majority of Children’s Residential Centres nationally are community based which means the young people live in family-sized homes that look like any other house and are situated within the same estates and communities that everybody lives in. Where Children’s Residential Services differ however, is that Centres are staffed on a twenty-four-hour basis by Social Care Workers, Leaders and Managers and are supported in their efforts to look after the children and young people in their care by external Managers, Social Work Services, Inspectors, Monitoring Officers and any others as appropriate.

I would like to acknowledge that scrutiny and oversight of the care provided to these children is of vital importance, and I welcome any concerns being raised. However, I am also very conscious of the stigma that children in care often face, through no fault of their own. It is important to emphasise that being taken into care is not a punishment for any wrongdoing on the part of a child, and Children’s Residential Centres are not detention facilities. Children in care are some of the most vulnerable people in our society and it is of the utmost importance that these children and young people can be placed in a suitable environment that can cater for their needs, within a welcoming wider community.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.