Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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283. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if her Department is working to ensure that all children bereaved by a parent have access to peer-support groups; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5274/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I can inform the Deputy that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency is a core funder and active participant in the Irish Childhood Bereavement Network (ICBN) and seeks to implement the ICBN ‘Standards for Supporting Bereaved Children and Young People’ and ‘Bereavement Care Pyramid’ into its commissioning practice. Both recognise and promote the value of peer support for bereaved children, particularly the value for children of meeting others with similar experiences. This would include children bereaved of a parent.

Tusla, as part of its Family Support Services (FSS) Counselling budget also funds the delivery of peer support for bereaved children by Rainbows Ireland across the country. Funding to Rainbows Ireland in 2023 was €301,000. Rainbows peer support is offered in small groups to children and teenagers in schools, parishes, family resource centres and youth projects, supported by a trained facilitator. In the academic year 2022-2023 nearly 1,000 children/teenagers participated in a Rainbows group for support following a bereavement. Rainbows uses materials such as journals, story books, games and activities which forms a structured programme to lead the children gently through the grieving process.

Rainbows Ireland has also developed a framework to provide support to bereaved children with neurodiversity or an intellectual disability, and is currently targeting training in special schools for its delivery. This framework recognises that for some children peer support is not appropriate and one-to-one support can be more beneficial based on the individual child or young person’s needs. The work of Rainbows Ireland is based on endeavouring to ensure that all bereaved children have access to support.

In November 2024 the Irish Childhood Bereavement Network ran a ‘Bereaved Children’s Awareness Week’. Among a range of events taking place were a series of webinars. These included ‘Exploring Safe Harbour’ (a storybook and suite of resources to support children bereaved by suicide), ‘A Health Promoting Approach to Children’s Bereavement’, ‘Supporting Bereaved Children: An Open Evening for Parents & Carers’, and ‘Teachers: Supporting Bereaved Students’. Resources such as these help educate people around the provision of bereavement services to children, and at my Department’s request Tusla circulated notice of the events to its network of Family Resource Centres and counselling contacts.