Sharon Keogan: 471 Children Overlooked - Questions for Agency

I want to start from the outside by stating that there are many social workers and people involved in your organisation who do wonderful jobs day in, day out, and I have nothing but admiration. However, I do have concerns. I still have concerns. Last June, the District Court in Dublin ordered a review of the China Family Agency and it was discovered that there were 859 directions included in care orders relating to 471 children that were not complied with and these cases were never re-entered before the court. The court concluded that the agency had failed in its statutory duty to each one of those 471 children and the agency systems in place across all levels to manage, monitor, record and oversee care orders and court directions were not fit for purpose. So what have you done to improve that and the quality of the services and trust in the organisation in relation to that judgment? It's a good and fair question. I'm only in the role since February of this year, so this is a situation that's proceeding but continuing and I think it's fair to say that, you know, when I was coming into the role, I felt there are real difficulties here. This is an agency facing these particular challenges and that's where we're definitely challenged and my sense is that we do have to respond better. We do have to be as innovative and as resourceful and I think the range of actions in terms of trying to attract capacity and build capacity from within is our best response to that situation. Nobody wants to be in that situation, nobody wants that distressing set of data, but in terms of the detail, it was before my time, so I think I'll hand over to Kate in case you want to add. Deputy Gogan, the reassurance that that was a very challenging circumstance. It was going back ten years and like you say, the right systems and processes weren't there. It was about the fact that when social workers, for example, if there was a court direction to have a social worker allocated, that wasn't possible. So that is now completely fixed. Everything has been reentered to the court. Where there is a breach of court direction, the court is notified and we have an IT system now that tracks that and can produce monthly reports to show us that there are no breaches occurring to the court. Just in relation to care orders with regard to the unborn children or newborn removals from birth, what is the figures on that at this moment in time? So the child protection notification system, so the newborn removals following birth, what are the numbers in relation to that or do you have any of those numbers? I don't have them. You don't have that. But how many, roughly would you say, each year? It may be up, I think up to maybe around 100 across the country. In relation to the adoptions, the statistics in relation to the adoptions, they seem to be growing every year. There are about 100, 101, 102 or whatever it is. How many people apply for adoption per year? And in relation to those children that are coming out through the system here, do you, I suppose, speak to each other in relation to those babies that are removed at birth, following the birth? Well, I suppose I'd come back to the numbers. In terms of the numbers of infants who are available for adoption, that's a very small number. That, I think, was about six last year. Six. Yes, thereabouts. And in terms of the number of applicants, I think we granted about 117 declarations of eligibility and suitability to people applying for domestic adoption last year. So the children that are removed from their parents at birth, they go into the foster care system. And how many of them, on average, would end up for adoption? Do you have any idea? Again, I just want to be sure, Deputy, because just in case I gave you even an approximate number, I would get you that figure back this afternoon and put it on the record correctly. Because there's also variance. It may be that a child is taken from a birth parent and for maybe two or three or four months have to be fostered and then go back to the birth parent. So there's variance in that. Certainly from the figure that we would have, that there were 38 applications from fostering to adoption. But I wouldn't have the breakdown in the age of those figures for 2025. What supports do you put in place for the birth mothers in relation to the reunification? It varies across the country in terms of services there. We fund a support group for birth parents through Barnardo's, because it's very important that that was an independent function. But certainly, I mean, our absolute priority is around promoting permanency planning for young children. And when we talk about permanency planning, the first is reunification. How do we seek to reunify children safely with their birth parents? The second is, if we think that that is not going to be possible or potential, then it's around looking to see, can we look at fostering and then fostering to adoption for those young people? Because the stability for them is critical. Is that birth mother given a social worker? An allocated social worker, yeah. So the birth mother has got a social worker? Well, it would depend on the circumstance. The birth mother is allocated a social worker? It depends on the circumstance. Just to remind you, we're supposed to be engaging with chairpersons, so if you can try and direct your questions. No, I understand that. I'm just trying to get down to the nitty-gritty here in relation to if a baby is taken off a birth mother, what supports are then given to that birth mother in relation to the care after that child is removed? Thank you, Lorraine. I think a big part of the challenge here is that I'm your chairperson in a new role, and the meeting is more about that. And I want you to do a great job, and let me be very clear with that. So it's important that you hear from people that are around this table here of their experiences in relation to that, so that you can get out there and do the best job you can for the children of Ireland. I think some of the questions are, all of the questions are completely legitimate, and some of them are very operational, and I wouldn't have that information to hand. And I think within the number of young women that are having children that go in straightaway into care, I met one young woman in a unit who is a child herself, so she not only has a social worker, she has a whole multidisciplinary team around her. So it does depend on the circumstances. Some of these young people are already people that are in the care themselves of the agency, and they have many professionals allocated to them. So it's not just a matter of being out there and having some fragile connection with the agency through a social worker. I think it's what's required, because obviously if somebody is regarded as maybe not in a position to provide all of the care that an infant is going to need could be to do with a disability, could be to do with a range of issues. It's not just about social work, it's a more complex issue than that.