McGimpsey committed to investing in services for children in care

Social Services Minister, Michael McGimpsey said today that systems were in place to protect those children who go missing from care.

This included almost £15m being invested over the next three years into family support and children’s services. The funding aims to prevent problems reaching the point where children run away or need to come into care.

Mr McGimpsey said: “There are around 2,500 young people in care in Northern Ireland at any one time. Most of whom are there due to neglect or abuse in the home which is often linked to parental mental health problems, drug and alcohol abuse or domestic violence.

“Children’s services in Northern Ireland are significantly underfunded by some 30% less than in comparison to England. I had to fight to secure extra funding as part of the budget settlement. I was able to secure an additional £5 million funding into family support services and a further £10million to strengthen both child protection and services for children in care.

“I will continue to argue for more resources to invest in services for this vulnerable group of people to ensure they are given all the support and protection they need.”

Currently children who go missing for more than 24 hours are reported to the Board, while those missing for less than 24 hours are monitored within the Trusts. The Minister continued:

“However, in order to identify the reasons why children go missing and ensure both Trust staff and the Police respond appropriately, a joint protocol has been agreed which is similar to arrangements in other parts of the UK.

“This protocol, which came into operation from 1 April this year, will provide greater clarity in distinguishing between cases which are not significant and those of a more serious nature.”

There are a range of other measures aimed at protecting and supporting vulnerable children, including those who go missing such as:

• Funding has been provided to Barnardos to look at the issue of young people who habitually go missing from care.
• Drop-in surgeries providing support and advice for young people in foster care. Northern Ireland is the only region of the UK where such a service is in operation on this scale.
• Services in the statutory and voluntary sector services to which young people may be referred if they are at risk of sexual harm, on the edge of criminality, in need of mental health services, or have drug or alcohol misuse problems;
• Visits to children’s homes by the independent advocacy service help children to highlight any problems they are experiencing.

The Minister concluded: ”As Social Services Minister I am committed to addressing issues which impact on the safety and well-being of children in care and those outside care and to ensure that they have every opportunity to succeed in life. “

Notes to Editors:

1. Research commissioned by the Northern Ireland Children’s Commissioner, DFP and OFMDFM found that in 2004-05, expenditure on children’s social services in England was around 30% higher than in Northern Ireland

2. The Department is also taking forward work under the “Care Matters” strategy which will help to address the reasons why children run away from care. These include

• Independent advocacy to help children voice any concerns;
• Restorative pilots in children’s homes to address challenging behaviour;
• Further actions under the Regional Review of residential child care, which will include improvements to staffing arrangements and guidance on tackling issues such as bullying and substance misuse;
• The greater use of Family Group Conferencing, and increasing the recruitment of family and friends foster carers, which will enable more young people to retain positive and valuable family and community links;
• Delegating greater authority to foster carers to prevent the frustrations young people sometimes experience from missing out on normal activities;
• Further measures to help children achieve in school and obtain employment; and also initiatives to help reduce the criminalisation of young people in care.

3. Media enquiries should be directed to the DHSSPS press office on 028 9052 0579, 028 90520636, 02890520575, 02890520074 or out of hours contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 076 9971 5440 and your call will be returned.