Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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155. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children in foster care, residential care, relative foster care and other care placements, in tabular form; and the number of these children with an allocated social worker. [3578/18]

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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156. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of child protection referrals made to Tusla in 2017. [3579/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 156 together.

Data on child welfare and protection referrals is reported by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, quarterly in arrears. At the end of Q2 2017 there had been 27,892 referrals to Child Protection and Welfare Services. Provisional figures indicate that there have been an approximately 12,700 referrals in Q3, 2017. On the basis of this trend, a full year figure should exceed 50,000 referrals to Tusla.

Based on the breakdown of type of referral in previous years, it is anticipated that approximately 40% of these referrals will relate to child welfare concerns, and 60%, approximately, will be for child protection concerns.

I am providing a Table showing the number of children in care by care type, and the number of these with an allocated social worker. The Table is based on the latest data available, up to the last day of October 2017.