Measures to keep children out of care and out of trouble will be in operation in 12 areas within six months, the Minister of State for Children has said. Other measures are to be introduced in disadvantaged areas throughout the State, Mr Frank Fahey announced. They include:
Twelve family-support projects to work mainly with children between seven and 11 who are at risk of going into care or getting into trouble. The independent child care agency Barnardos will be involved in managing at least four of these.
More relatives will be recruited as foster parents to keep children in their extended families.
The Eastern Health Board is to expand a programme aimed at preventing pregnancy in young teenagers. The Minister said this programme would later be introduced to the 12 areas with family-support projects.
The Community Mothers Programme, in which mothers having difficulties with child-rearing are helped by other mothers, will be extended to all health board areas.
In Dublin, local authorities are to provide houses in about six large estates for local homeless children, which will be staffed by the Eastern Health Board.
The moves were welcomed by Barnardos, which said they resulted from the acknowledgment that money spent on keeping children in care could be used to prevent them going into care in the first place if it was used to help their families, according to the Barnardos director, Mr Owen Keenan.
A project in Moyross, Limerick, managed by Barnardos for the Mid-Western Health Board, has enabled at least 30 children to return home from care or to stay out of care, Mr Keenan said.
Of the 12 projects, two will be located in the Eastern Health Board area (Gallanstown/Cherry Orchard in Dublin and Naas, Co Kildare); one in the Midland Health Board area (Battery Heights, Athlone, Co Westmeath); one in the Mid-Western Health Board area (Southill in Limerick and Thurles, Co Tipperary); two in the North-Western Health Board area (Muirhevnamor in Dundalk, Co Louth, and Navan, Co Meath); two in the North-Western Health Board area (Letterkenny, Co Donegal, and Sligo); one in the South-Eastern Health Board area (Waterford); one in the Southern Health Board area (Mahon in Cork) and two in the Western Health Board area (Ballybane and Rahoon in Galway).
The projects will be monitored by a group chaired by Mr Fahey. Value for money, good quality work and making a significant difference in the lives of children and their families will be among the yardsticks by which their performance will be measured. They will be financed for the first three years out of an annual overall fund of £2.4 million.
Barnardos will be involved in managing the projects in Gallanstown/Cherry Orchard, Southill, Thurles and Athlone.