Minister Katherine Zappone T.D., Minister for Children and Youth Affairs,
today announced that following almost two years of preparations all
remaining provisions of the Children First Act 2015 will be commenced on 11
th December 2017.
These include the provisions in relation to mandatory reporting of child
abuse and in relation to placing a legal obligation on organisations
providing services to children to prepare and publish a Child Safeguarding
Statement.
Minister Zappone was speaking at the launch of Children First: National
Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children [2017] which revises
and replaces the 2011 edition of the Children First Guidance.
The revised Guidance includes reference to the provisions of the Children
First Act and is available on the website of the Department of Children and
Youth Affairs at www.dcya.gov.ie.
At the same launch, Tusla published an accompanying suite of Children First
resource documents for those individuals and organisations who will acquire
legal obligations under the Children First Act 2015. Tusla also launched a
comprehensive 90 minute basic Children First training programme, to be
universally available on line, free of charge. The Tusla suite of Children
First resource materials and information on access to the etraining module
is available at www.tusla.ie.
The revised Children First guidance and the Tusla Children First resources
are being launched in anticipation of the full commencement of the Act on
11th December, in order to allow for time for preparations by those
individuals and organisations who will acquire legal obligations under the
Children First Act 2015 from 11th December.
The Minister stated: “By announcing a date of full commencement of all
remaining provisions of the Children First Act 2015 on 11th December, I am
fulfilling a longstanding Government commitment in relation to mandatory
reporting of child abuse.” She added: “While I do not underestimate the
scale of the challenge for individuals and organisations to comply with
their responsibilities under the Children First Act, I believe our children
deserve no less. The comprehensive range of resources being launched
today, are intended to help them in their preparations to discharge these
responsibilities”.
The Minister acknowledged and commended all those who work so hard to make
sure that every child they interact with is cared for, supported and
protected. She said “Practitioners in the professional and voluntary
sectors, medical professionals, Gardai, youth workers, teachers, and
coaches all over Ireland have already adopted and applied best practice in
child protection. These people already implement Children First in full and
understand their duty to keep children safe.”
“We must continually do our utmost to protect children and young people
from harm and assist them in achieving their full potential and I want to
encourage and support people who work with children to continue to do so. I
hope that families, communities and those who work with children will find
the revised Children First Guidance a practical and supportive reference
resource, together with the resource documents now being made available by
Tusla”.
ENDS//
Note for Editors
The primary purpose of the Children First Act 2015 is to put key elements
of Children First Guidance on a statutory basis. A number of provisions of
the Act have been commenced to date on a phased basis. These include the
abolition of the common law defence of reasonable chastisement for parents
or those acting in loco parentis in relation to corporal punishment and the
establishment of the Children First inter-Departmental Implementation Group
on a statutory basis.
On commencement on 11 December 2017 the remaining provisions will impose
statutory obligations on key professionals to report child protection
concerns over a certain threshold to Tusla and on providers of relevant
services to children to
carry out a comprehensive risk assessment of their services and develop
Child Safeguarding Statements. The obligations on mandated reporters will
take effect immediately on the date of commencement, i.e. 11th December,
while organisations will have 3 months from that date to comply with their
obligations in relation to publishing a Child Safeguarding Statement.
Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of
Children was first published in 1999 and was revised and updated a number
of times, most recently in 2011. The principles and substance of this
document (2017) are unchanged from the earlier editions. The guidance is
intended to assist people in recognising child abuse and neglect, and in
reporting reasonable concerns to Tusla. The guidance has been updated to
reflect the provisions of the Children First Act 2015 and it includes
specific information for those persons and organisations who will acquire
legal obligations under the legislation when it is fully commenced on 11
December 2017.
The Guidance also outlines the roles of the main statutory bodies involved
in child welfare and protection: Tusla - Child and Family Agency, and An
Garda Síochána. It contains details of how to report a concern about a
child and what happens once the report is received by Tusla.
The revised Guidance is just one of the resources available to assist with
child protection. A free, online child welfare and protection training
module has been prepared by Tusla and is now available for everyone, free
of charge. This, and a number of additional child protection and
safeguarding information resources, can be found on the Tusla website,
www.tusla.ie.
Taken together, the Children First Act, the Criminal Justice (Withholding
of Information on Offences Against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act
2012 and the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts
2012-2016, represent a significant legislative framework to promote the
safety and protection of children.