Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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130. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children formally taken into care to date in 2020, compared to 2019 in total; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40789/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for his question.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has advised that the following data is a count of admissions to care and not individual children admitted to care. A small number of children may have more than one admission.

It should be noted that 'care' spans the continuum of foster care, residential care and special care. There were 856 admissions to care in 2019, or an average of 71 admissions per month. However, it should be noted that data for 2019 should be considered provisional until Tusla has completed its annual validation, which will be completed shortly.

As of September 2020, there have been 648 admissions to care. This is an average of 72 admissions per month, or one admission per month more than in 2019.

Tusla is committed to ensuring that children and young people are supported to live at home with their families when it is in their best interests to do so. Family support workers engage with families and the benefits of early intervention are well understood. The Meitheal model is a Tusla-led early intervention co-ordinated national practice model that works with individual children, their families, schools, youth services, family resource centre staff, medical practitioners, and all other parties with an interest in the child’s life. The focus is to support the child and family in their daily needs and in developing strengths.

Tusla has a statutory obligation to receive children in to care, from the Courts or by way of a voluntary agreement, when a view has been formed that their safety, health or wellbeing cannot otherwise be ensured.

My Department intends to bring a further focus to the development of policy and strategic direction for children in care in 2021.