Barry Andrews: We now have road map to right wrongs of past
Because of the chaotic realities behind the circumstances of some children who come into care, cast-iron assurances can't be made
THE details of the tragic life and death of Tracey Fay have been written about at length and debated on the floor of the Dail in the past week.
The girl was failed by the State and unfortunately was not unique in this respect.
The chaotic and dysfunctional circumstances and family lives that resulted in many of these children being taken into care cannot be underestimated.
Their needs were extremely complex and required sustained support and professional interventions. In several of the cases that I outlined to the Dail on Thursday, while there was a series of contacts with care services, these children were let down by the child protection system.
There was little in the way of continuity of care and a marked absence of a care plan.
Despite the commitment of individual social workers and care staff, the child protection system did not respond to the needs of these children.
It is important to note that these children are teenagers, and cannot be detained indefinitely, nor forced to co-operate with services. Any parent with adolescent teenagers will attest to the difficulty in keeping an eye on them at all times.
That is not to excuse the failings, but contextualise the risk associated with a child who has an array of complex needs.
Children's services in Ireland have struggled to keep apace with increased need and demand for family intervention and support. During the 10-year period in which 23 children died in the care of the State (nine of which were of natural causes or accidents), services expanded, but in a way that did not deliver on a consistent basis. Three of the children that died had turned 18 years of age, but should be included in any figure.
My priority today is to improve that system and I believe in the Ryan report implementation plan, we have the road map to right the wrongs of the past.
As was widely acknowledged by child protection experts at the time of its publication, the plan provides a path to the reform of the delivery of children's services.
This is not some aspirational document. It has been backed up with €15m that will enable the Health Service Executive (HSE) to recruit 200 social workers this year.
The plan states that 270 extra social workers will be in place by the end of 2011.
To build any level of public confidence in our child protection systems, the public and health professionals must be able to access core information when children die, or are the subject of serious incidents, while in state care. This sharing of information has not happened in the past.
At a minimum, summary information must be made available in a timely fashion. That is why I asked the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to prepare guidance for the HSE and the Irish Youth Justice Service to direct the way in which these investigations should be conducted and reports written.
I believe that the guidance, to be published by the HIQA next week, will for the first time provide a structure that will allow reports into these deaths/serious incidents to be published in a proper and timely fashion.
The inappropriate actions of Fine Gael this week in publishing a case review file into the death of Tracey Fay ignores all of the proper procedures and guidance that will shape this process into the future.
The condemnation by the Irish Foster Carers' Association and the Irish Association of Young People in Care says all that needs to be said in this regard.
Improvements are taking place in children's services. Since the death of Tracey Fay, special care facilities have been put in place. A new model of special care and high support has been rolled out by the HSE. Multi-dimensional treatment foster care and outreach services have been launched to wrap around children while they reside with foster families in the community.
A senior manager in the HSE now has sole responsibility for children and family services.
I have never said, as was suggested in this newspaper yesterday, that the tragic death of Tracey Fay could not be repeated today.
In fact, during the course of numerous media interviews I have said that neither I, nor any other Minister for Children, can give absolute guarantees.
Because of the chaotic realities behind the circumstances of some children who come into care, cast-iron assurances cannot be made.
What I have endeavoured to do is to minimise the likelihood of such tragedies.
Barry Andrews IS Minister for Children
Irish Independent
