merrion street

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald TD, is today publishing the Final Report of the Task Force on the Child and Family Support Agency. Publishing the report, the Minister described it as the foundation for a “revolution in child protection and family services”. In her response, Minister Fitzgerald states: “the new agency will bring a dedicated focus to child protection and family support for the first time in the history of the State”.

Minister Fitzgerald welcomed the report prepared by the Task Force, chaired by Ms. Maureen Lynott, and thanked them for their hard work and commitment on producing such a comprehensive report. “This report is a major step in resolving the long-established systemic issues that the Independent Child Death Review Group outlined last month. The report will guide the work of the Agency, which will be led by CEO Designate Gordon Jeyes. I look forward to discussions with my Ministerial colleagues, existing service providers and interested parties on progressing legislation to establish the new Child and Family Support Agency in 2013. I am pleased to announce that this week the Cabinet approved the drafting of legislation to establish this new Agency and for a new reality in service provision for children and families.

Speaking at the publication of the report, Minister Fitzgerald said; “This report proposes one of the most significant shifts in child welfare in the state’s history. It maps out a single way forward for Irish child and family services and a vision for a range of services, brought together in a manner that has never before been achieved. 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, overseen by a single dedicated government Department.

Responding to the report Minister Fitzgerald stated that: “Today’s report; and my Department’s agenda represents a vitally important part of this government’s reform programme. The establishment of this new Agency represents public service reform in practice. We must have much more seamless integration of policy and service delivery, not fragmentation. We must do better for children and families. It will take time for us to create this new reality out of the rubble of a system that has been crumbling for decades, but this report is a major step on the road.

“When a child comes to the attention of social worker or an educational welfare office or a Garda Diversion Project, that child will come in to a single system; a single continuum of services all focused on that child’s wellbeing.

“At the heart of the new Agency will be a new Service Delivery Framework, which will differentiate between child welfare and protection cases, such that family and child welfare concerns can be responded to by new multi-agency, community-based models for early intervention and family support. The new Agency will represent the practical application of a new approach towards 'proportionate' service responses – an approach which will be also at the heart of the Constitutional Amendment on Child Protection which will put before the people later this year.

Key reforms to be progressed by the Agency include:

· The creation of multidisciplinary local teams.

· The streamlining of local services under one local manager.

· The establishment of a single, consistent mechanism for assessment, referrals and tracking supported a new child protection notification system

The Minister added: “I have increased the budget for 2012 and recruited 60 further social workers; and as this week’s latest figures indicate that the filling of vacancies, which have arisen since the start of this year, has been proceeding and the total number of child and family social workers is increasing. Although, as this report makes clear, we must shift from an assumption that all child protection problems can be solved by social workers alone, to an understanding that delivery of child and family services is about blending mental health interventions, primary care, public health nursing, youth justice, domestic violence supports, community outreach, child protection and child welfare as well as numerous other functions into one efficient, coherent service.

The Minister concluded saying: “We will dispense with layers of bureaucracy; and establish direct lines of accountability, from area manager to CEO. Under the new Agency we will ensure we collect, collate and then utilise real-time data on demands and performance so as to better manage service provision and to better allocate resources. We must deliver real value-for-money and effectiveness. Gordon Jeyes, Jim Breslin and I are committed to this; and we will be championing a change that is greater in scope and challenge than has ever before been attempted in the area of child and family services. This government is committing to this effort in a way no government has, and we are supported by the most dedicated and expert people available.”