Minister says:
· “For too long… our flawed approach treated child and family services
like an adjunct of another agency, as an afterthought. But not
anymore.”
· “For the first time we will have child and family social workers,
family support workers, social care workers and education welfare
officers all working together to protect children and support
families.”
New Agency:
· Represents delivery of key Programme for Government commitment.
· Brings together over 4,000 staff and a budget of some €609 million.
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, today joined with Frances Fitzgerald TD,
Minister for Children & Youth Affairs to officially launch the new Child
and Family Agency. Today’s launch event took place at Dublin Castle
attended by over 200 invited guests. An Taoiseach and the Minister were
joined by Ms. Norah Gibbons, Chairperson of the Agency and Mr. Gordon
Jeyes, Chief Executive Officer.
Establishment of the Agency delivers on a key Programme for Government
commitment and represents one of the largest and most important public
sector reforms being undertaken by this Government bringing together over
4,000 staff and a budget of some €609 million to provide a dedicated focus
on services for children & families.
The new Agency will have responsibility for a range of services previously
delivered across three separate agencies, the HSE child and family
services, the National Education Welfare Board and the Family Support
Agency (including the nationwide network of 106 family resource centres).
Addressing the launch, Minister Fitzgerald stated: “I’ve always thought it
was indicative of our flawed approach to child and family services in this
country that for so long they were treated like an adjunct of another
agency, as an afterthought. But not anymore.”
The Minister noted that the new Agency will:
- take child protection services out from where they were lost in an
overloaded health service;
- bring education welfare and family support together with child
protection and welfare;
- break down barriers between agencies and services; between
professional disciplines;
- deliver much more seamless integration of policy and service
delivery, not fragmentation.
The Minister stated: “For the first time we will have child and family
social workers, family support workers, social care workers and education
welfare officers all working together to protect children and support
families.”
“We are going to move from a position where child and family welfare was
barely a priority, to a position where it will be the sole focus of a
single dedicated state agency, with a ring-fenced budget and streamlined
management, overseen by a single dedicated government Department.”
The Minister added that this is not just a child protection agency. She
said that “it very deliberately has 'family' in its name. It will pull
together and give single coherent direction to all of the strands of
service for our families most in need in a way that has never happened in
this country before; including prevention and early intervention
programmes, both universal and targeted, as well as family support
services, the nationwide network of 106 family resource centres and
education welfare services.”
The Minister added: “We will not fix the problems overnight. It took
decades for the legacy we inherited to develop; it will take years to fix
it. But just like calling in HIQA to inspect services, or like installing
Children First across the country, or moving sixteen and seventeen year
olds from St. Patrick’s institution to Oberstown, this is a major step.
Possibly the most major. Because now, the people at frontline and at
management level who dedicate themselves to helping families can begin the
process of developing not just a national agency, but a national team
providing the consistent commitment and competence we have been so
lacking.”