Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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395. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the extent to which he has plans to expand or improve facilities for children with particular reference to children at risk or potentially at risk; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36470/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Thank you for your question. My department and the agencies under it's remit are continuously looking to improve services and facilities available to children, especially vulnerable children.

For 2021, I increased the allocation to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, to a total of €878m, an increase of €61m over 2020 (€817m).

The additional resources will allow Tusla to:

- Continue work to reduce the number of children awaiting the allocation of a social worker (reduce number of unallocated cases),

- Address significant demand led cost pressures in residential care,

- Provide care and protection through quality services for victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence,

- Continue to improve organisational and service performance to achieve better outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families,

- Support Tusla to meet commitments to transfer additional separated children to Ireland as quickly as possible,

- Manage and safeguard records following their transfer from the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes to the Child and Family Agency (Tusla),

- Improve and embed robust processes to adhere to GDPR regulations and address the Data Protection Commissioner’s concerns.

- Increase capital investment to support Tusla services, and advance the Agency’s Estates Strategy

Tusla’s annual Business Plan 2021 outlines funding allocations and key priorities for 2021. including:

- An additional 100 front-line staff

- Further support for DSGBV services

- Increased funding for, and ability to take in more children under the refugee programmes

- Support for additional Tusla residential services

- Funding to address new developments in the areas of ICT, GDPR, Organisation Reform and to facilitate the transfer of mother-and-baby home records to Tusla

As well as it business plan, Tusla has released it's three year corporate plan covering 2021- 2023.

Tusla's strategic goals and key objectives over 2021 - 2023 include:

- Ensuring children, young people, families and communities receive a consistent, quality and integrated response from all Tusla services

- Delivering an independent regulatory service focused on the safety and wellbeing of children and young people through continuous improvement and partnership with stakeholders

- Ensure that Tusla staff and leaders are supported and empowered to continuously learn and improve so that children, families and communities benefit from their service

- Ensure our local teams and services are facilitated and supported by national systems and resources that promote integration and accountability

More information on the progressive targets and initiatives in the corporate plan can be found here:

opac.oireachtas.ie/Data/Library3/Documents%20Laid/2021/pdf/CEDIYdocslaid130521_130521_142550.pdf

In addition to the work Tusla undertakes my Department also has numerous initiatives enacted to monitor and improve the welfare of children. For example, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (BOBF), the first overarching national policy framework for children and young people (aged 0-24 years). Almost all policy areas have a direct or indirect effect on children and young people’s lives. The purpose of this framework was to coordinate policy across Government to achieve better outcomes. A follow on to the good work of BOBF is being derived at the moment.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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396. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the extent to which it is intended to develop an early response or alert system to address issues arising in respect of children at risk; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36471/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Thank you for raising such an important matter. The onus falls to all of us to report concerns that a child may have been, is being, or is at risk of being abused or neglected. Tusla has developed a comprehensive referral system through which organisations, the public and mandated people can share their concerns for a child potentially at risk of neglect or abuse. In 2020 there were in excess of 60,000 referrals to Tusla.

It is not necessary to prove that abuse has occurred to report a concern to Tusla. All that is required is that there are reasonable grounds. It is Tusla’s role to assess the information that it receives with any other available information. A child protection assessment will be carried out where risk is identified and in other situations.

Where a referral to Tusla does not reach a threshold for a child protection assessment the referral can be referred to Prevention, Partnership and Family Support (PPFS). The best way to improve outcomes for children is to intervene at an early stage to resolve problems and prevent harm. PPFS is a comprehensive programme of early intervention and preventative work which has been undertaken by Tusla. The programme takes three main approaches:

- Supporting the participation of children and young people in decisions that affect them.

- Supporting parents in developing their parenting skills.

- Implementing an area-based approach to identifying and addressing needs earlier and in a coordinated manner

The Children First Act 2015 places a legal obligation on certain people, many of whom are professionals, to report child protection concerns at or above a defined threshold to Tusla. These mandated persons must also assist Tusla, on request, in its assessment of child protection concerns about children who have been the subject of a mandated report.

Mandated persons are people who have contact with children and/or families who, by virtue of their role, qualifications, training and experience, are in a key position to help protect children from harm. Mandated persons include key professionals working with children in the education, health, justice, youth and childcare sectors. Certain professionals who may not work directly with children, such as those in adult counselling or psychiatry, are also mandated persons.

Tusla operates a National Out of Hours Service (OHS) & Emergency Out of Hours Service (EOHS). Initially established in 2015 incorporating the pre-existing Emergency Place of Safety Service. The core function of the Tusla Out of Hours Social Work Services is to ensure the safety and welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection outside of normal office hours. The service can provides emergency care placements for children as required and support and assistance to An Garda Síochána and foster carers . In 2020 Tusla received 2,281 referrals to the National Out of Hours Service with 583 referrals in Q4 2020 alone. Over 2020 the Out of Hours service placed 525 children in emergency foster care or residential placements.

In addition all organisations, including government departments, schools, health services, religious bodies, public sector agencies, clubs and leisure sector, private and voluntary bodies that provide services to children have a duty to develop a Child Safeguarding Statement. This should incorporate

- promoting the general welfare, health, development and safety of children

- adopting and consistently applying a safe and clearly defined method of recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers

- developing tailored guidance and procedures, in accordance with Children First: National Guidance, for staff and volunteers who may have reasonable grounds for concern about the safety and welfare of children involved with the organisation

- identifying a designated liaison person to act as a liaison with outside agencies and a resource person to any staff member or volunteer who has child protection and welfare concerns. The designated liaison person is responsible for reporting allegations or concerns of child abuse to the Child and Family Agency or to An Garda Síochána

- ensuring that the organisation has clear written procedures on the action to be taken if allegations of abuse against employees/volunteers are made

- raising awareness within the organisation about potential risks to children’s safety and welfare

- developing effective procedures for responding to accidents and complaints and should be published or made available on request.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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397. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans for a review of cases of children at risk brought to the attention of his Department during the Covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36472/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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405. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the extent to which adequate reporting facilities are available in respect of children at risk; if the augmentation of such services is required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36480/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 397 and 405 together.

I can advise that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has continued to provide essential services to children and families throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Tusla’s work has focused on ensuring continuity of critical supports and services to vulnerable children and families whilst balancing this need with public health advice to keep children, families and frontline staff as safe as possible during the pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic the CEO of Tusla, Bernard Gloster determined that the three priority areas within the organisation were:

- Child Protection (including Out of Hours Social Work Services)

- Children in Care (including parental access and court hearings)

- Domestic and Sexual Gender Based Violence services.

When Covid-19 restrictions were first introduced, with schools closing in March 2020, referrals decreased to child protection and welfare services. The decrease was from an average of 1,505 per week, to 968 (36% decrease) per week for the initial four week period. Following a local and national media campaign referrals increased, to over 1,300 referrals per week. All indications are that year on year comparisons will show an increase in referrals received in 2020. The most recent monthly referral data shows to the end of October 2020 Tusla had received 52,082 referrals, over the same period in 2019 Tusla received 49,963 referrals already an increase of 4%.

In June 2020, my Department developed an information and media campaign entitled SupportingChildren.gov.ie. For the first time this brought together information on all the services, structures and supports which are in place for vulnerable children, young people and their families during the Covid pandemic. Critically this also included the range of step-up actions and innovations that were also being advanced to support these groups. I can inform you that this initiative is about to begin again. It is important that this vulnerable cohort of children and their families know that support continues to be available during these challenging times.

My Department established a Covid response group. Under the umbrella of this team the various facets of the Department keep me informed as to issues affecting children and young people and the impact of Covid-19. The group collates information on the impact of Covid on a variety of services including Tusla Children Residential services, the Oberstown Campus, Youth services, Domestic Sexual & Gender Based Violence services, International Protection Accommodation Service, Traveller and Roma services. They also contribute to and monitor the responses put in place to mitigate issues that arise.

You will be aware of the heightened concern for the safety of partners and children where there is domestic violence. The Department of Justice is coordinating a Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) group across Departments and agencies to ensure a coordinated focussed approach to this worrying problem. Under the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV. In Budget 2021, my Department negotiated an additional €30m for Tusla, specifically allocated for DSGBV services. This includes core funding of €28m and an additional €2m to assist DSGBV organisations in offsetting the effects of COVID-19 on day-to-day services.

The Programme for Government sets out a number of commitments regarding DSGBV, including an audit on segmentation of DSGBV responsibilities across government departments and agencies, which will inform future investments in this area. Tusla is also undertaking a review of emergency accommodation nationwide. This will assess the current and requisite distribution of safe emergency accommodation. Substantial progress has been made on a number of processes which contribute to the review, including a literature review, consultations with stakeholders, geographical and census data analysis, consultation with service users and policy analysis. The review's findings and the recommendations of the Monitoring Committee of the Second National Strategy on DSGBV will inform Tusla's future decisions on priority areas for investment and development of services. Tusla has advised me that the report will be published this April.

It is of the utmost importance that the needs of those who experience domestic violence are met in the most appropriate way possible, including children.

In addition through correspondences and parliamentary queries submitted to my Department, issues affecting children and opportunities to prevent abuse and neglect are brought to the fore. During a crisis such as we face now, if anyone has a concern for the safety and welfare of a child or young person they should bring it to the attention of the appropriate authorities without delay.