Focus Ireland calls for committee on national strategy for childcare

THE Government should set up a steering committee to devise a national strategy on child care, according to Focus Ireland, the voluntary agency.

In a submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Social Affairs, the agency said child care should also be organised out of one Department. It is currently dealt with by the Departments of Health, Justice and Education.

The president of Focus Ireland, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, said she had sat in front of politicians 25 years ago asking for similar measures after publication of a report on child care.

The submission was based on the agency's report, Focus on Residential Child Care. This showed a marked swing from residential care to foster care, with 72 per cent of children in homes in 1970 and 75 per cent of children in foster care in 1995.

The proposed steering committee would consist of people from Government departments, statutory and voluntary agencies. It would last a year.

The agency's chief executive Mr Michael Bruton, said it would cost less than ú1 million to formulate a five year child care strategy. "Ad-hoc responses characterise child care," he said, adding that the incoherence and lack of planning resulted in some children falling through the net.

Sister Stanislaus said the situation meant some children were criminalised. Children who were playing truant could find them selves in prison or special schools run by the Department of Justice "not because they committed of fences, but because there were no places for them".

She said some children had passed through as many as 10 child care facilities, including B&Bs, holiday accommodation and children's homes. "One night on the street for a child may mean they are dragged into drugs, prostitution or drink."

Mr Bruton staid the agency was also calling for a national council for children, which would operate along the lines of the National Children's Bureau in Britain. It would act as the research arm or "thinking part" of a child-care system.

Mr Chris Flood TD (Fianna Fail), said he believed the committee would be timely with the implementation of the Child Care Act and the introduction of a Juvenile Justice Act.