Written answers

Tuesday, 17 April 2018

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Children First Guidelines

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1330. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department has written to employers of persons designated as mandated reporters under the Children First Act 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15177/18]

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

My Department has not written to employers of persons designated as mandated persons under the Children First Act. As with any regulatory regime, it is a matter for each organisation to establish whether it has any statutory obligations under the Act and to discharge those obligations accordingly.

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1331. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department has offered in-person training for persons designated as mandated reporters under the Children First Act 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15178/18]

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

It is the responsibility of each organisation to ensure that its staff receive adequate and appropriate child welfare and protection training to meet their child protection obligations under the Act. 

To assist organisations in this regard, my Department and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, worked collaboratively to produce a suite of information and training resources, which were launched on 2nd October 2017. 

These resources included the revised and updated edition of Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, which was prepared by my Department, and an e-learning training module, entitled Introduction to Children First, which was prepared by Tusla.

The e-learning programme is a 90 minute training module which is universally available and free of charge. The module covers the recognising and reporting of child abuse, the role of mandated persons, and the safeguarding responsibilities of organisations working with children. The training module is available through the Tusla website www.tusla.ie.

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1332. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if a more specific definition of the term "relevant person" will be provided, who will serve as the first point of contact in respect of an organisation dealing with children and young persons as set out on page 30 of the Children First Guidelines 2017, if this person is a child protection officer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15179/18]

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

Section 8 of the Children First Act defines a relevant person as "a person who is appointed by a provider of a relevant service to be the first point of contact in respect of the provider's child safeguarding statement."

It is a matter for each provider to appoint a relevant person for the purposes of the child safeguarding statement. While this person may be the child protection officer of an organisation, there is nothing in the legislation which requires this.

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1333. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department monitors organisations working with children and young persons to verify whether they have developed a child safeguarding statement. [15180/18]

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

My Department will not be monitoring all organisations providing relevant services to children to establish whether they have developed a child safeguarding statement.

The obligations of all Government Departments regarding oversight and compliance with the Children First Act are set out in section 27 of that Act. 

Section 27 requires each Government Department to prepare and publish a Sectoral Implementation Plan that outlines the programme of measures to be taken to ensure that the Department, and any body that provides a relevant service and receives funding from that Department, comply with the provisions of the Act.

The Sectoral Implementation Plan for my Department, which was published in March 2018, is available on www.dcya.gov.ie. It contains information about:

a) relevant services provided by or on behalf of the Department;

b) measures taken or proposed to be taken to promote, review and report on compliance with the provisions of the Act and of the guidelines issued by the Minister under Section 6;

c) monitoring and review procedures, and 

d) such other matters (if any) as the Minister considers appropriate.

The Deputy may wish to note that sections 12 and 13 of the Children First Act provide that Tusla has the authority to establish a maintain a register of non-compliance to those organisations who fail to produce a child safeguarding statement when requested to do so. Tusla has recently established a Child Safeguarding Compliance Unit and is currently developing a strategy to support implementation of this provision. As this is a new statutory obligation for many organisations, Tusla will focus on encouraging and supporting providers of relevant services to meet their statutory obligations and will endeavour only to place relevant service providers on the register where a supportive approach has proved unsuccessful.

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1334. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department applies a sanction to organisations that have a statutory responsibility under the Children First Act 2015 to conduct a risk assessment and to prepare a child protection statement and they fail to do so; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15181/18]

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

The Children First Act 2015 was fully commenced on 11 December 2017. The provisions commenced on that date include those relating to the obligations on organisations providing services to children to keep children safe from harm, to carry out risk assessments and to prepare and publish Child Safeguarding Statements.

Providers of relevant services to children were required to meet their statutory obligations [i.e. to undertake a risk assessment and to prepare and publish a Child Safeguarding Statement] within three months of the date of commencement, i.e. by 11th March 2018.

Sections 12 and 13 of the Children First Act make provision for the Child and Family Agency to establish and maintain a register of non-compliance for providers of relevant services who fail to provide a copy of the Child Safeguarding Statement to Tusla when requested to do so. Tusla has recently established a Child Safeguarding Compliance Unit and is currently developing a strategy to support implementation of this provision. As this is a new statutory obligation for many organisations, Tusla will focus on encouraging and supporting providers of relevant services to meet their statutory obligations and will endeavour only to place relevant service providers on the register where a supportive approach has proved unsuccessful.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.