Zappone to overhaul system of court-appointed guardians

The system for court-appointed guardians of children will be overhauled under proposals to be brought to Cabinet by the Minister for Children in the new year.

The reforms will see money diverted away from barristers and solicitors, and aims to make more guardians available around the country.

They will also seek to end the current ad hoc nature of the system by establishing a single national service for the operation of the so-called Guardian ad litem system.

Guardians are appointed by judges to represent the voice and best interests of children in State care cases. The new system would see the State tender for a single provider for guardians. The provider would then establish a standing panel of guardians in place of the current system of numerous providers.

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The new national service would also establish a panel of barristers and a panel of solicitors to provide legal representation for a guardian, as well as decide under what circumstances a guardian can be granted legal representation.

It is expected that the Minister, Katherine Zappone, will bring the proposals to Cabinet early in 2017, with the tender process for the national service beginning in early 2018.

The proposals will also set out the standards qualifying to be a guardian. These will include a qualification in social work or psychology and at least five years’ postgraduate experience working in child welfare and child protection areas. Guardians must also be Garda vetted.

Current guardians who do not meet any of these qualifications will be given a certain period of time to obtain them.

Expand availability

The reforms are unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in the costs of system, which has been criticised in recent years. Instead, they will seek to expand the availability of guardians while clamping down on associated legal costs by diverting spending away from barristers and solicitors.

Guardians are appointed by courts under the Child Care Act 1991 to represent the views of children in childcare cases. These cases involve the Child and Family Agency, also called Tusla, applying to court to take children at risk into State care.

Guardians report to the court and usually have their own legal representation. Barnardos, the children's charity, is the largest single provider of guardian services in Ireland. The State pays the costs of the guardians and the cost of their legal representatives.

The Comptroller and Auditor General found that guardians cost €9.1 million in 2015, with an average cost per case of more than €10,850.

Guardians’ legal costs, when they were represented in court cases by solicitors or barristers, came to €5.9 million. In one case, legal costs were more than €600,000, while most cases cost up to €50,000.

The €125 per hour guardian fee was agreed after an informal consultation between Tusla and the guardians, the C&AG found. New fees will be set by the new national agency, and legal fees will be set by the Minister for Children.

The 2014 Child Law Reporting Project found a huge regional discrepancy in the appointment of guardians. For example, 68 per cent of all child cases in Dublin involved a guardian, while the figure in Dundalk, Co Louth is higher at 80 per cent. In comparison, the figures for Cork and Clonmel, Co Tipperary are 27 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

Ms Zappone and her department say the current system is too ad hoc in nature, as well as unregulated and unsustainable.