Child and Family Agency a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that the new Child and Family Agency provided a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to reform child protection and welfare services.

Speaking at the launch of the new Child and Family Agency today, Mr Kenny said the new agency will take over responsibility for children’s services, such as child protection, family support and regulation of pre-schools.

He also apologised to Louise O’Keeffe for the abuse she experienced as a schoolgirl.

Ms O’Keeffe won a landmark legal challenge against the State this week after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Government failed to protect her from sexual abuse she suffered in school in Cork.

Mr Kenny said what happened to Ms O’Keeffe was sadly indicative of a long litany of other child abuse cases.

In all, some 4,000 people have transferred to the organisation which will have a budget of about €600 million.

However, key services such as public health nursing and child mental health have not yet transferred to the agency.

The creation of the agency follows a number of highly critical reports into how children were failed by the system, often as a result of poor co-operation between State agencies.

Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald today said the new agency will be the first time that child and family services will be the focus of a single State body.

“For too long our flawed approach treated child and family services like an adjunct of another agency, as an afterthought. But not anymore,” she said.

Bringing child protection, family support and education welfare services under a single roof will deliver more “seamless integration of policy and service delivery”, Ms Fitzgerald added.

Gordon Jeyes, the chief executive of the new agency, said the new organisation will be a “ferocious corporate parent”, demanding the best for children that the State can give.