The Business Committee has allowed one and a half hours for the debate. The Member who proposes the motion will have 10 minutes to speak, with 10 minutes allowed for the winding-up speech. One amendment has been received and is published on the Marshalled List. The Member who proposes the amendment will have 10 minutes to speak, with five minutes allowed for the winding-up speech. All other Members will have five minutes to speak.

I beg to move

That this Assembly calls upon the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to set out his plans to improve the outcomes for children “looked after” by the state and for the implementation and resourcing of the Care Matters Strategy.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I applaud the Business Committee for accepting this important motion. It gives the Assembly the chance to throw a spotlight on a vulnerable and needy group of children, particularly when Members consider the subject of the previous debate.

I have no difficulty in accepting the amendment, and I want to thank its proposers. I agree that the issues that affect children and young people cut across several Departments. It is important that the Executive prioritise those issues. That would send out a strong, clear message that children and young people are important in the Assembly.

It is crucial that the debate takes place in the Assembly because it allows locally elected Members to deal with the issues that affect children and young people and to take actions that will make a difference. I thank the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his attendance. I hope that he is not fatigued after attending three debates back to back. I hope that he will listen to my questions and return to me with the answers if he does not have them today.

Paul Goggins recently launched ‘Care Matters in Northern Ireland — A Bridge to a Better Future’. I am conscious that the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety is being asked to respond to a policy document to which he had no input, but, based on his last speech, he will be influential in determining its success or failure. I know that the Minister shares my view that this issue demands to be prioritised as much as acute hospital services, trolley waits and prescription charges, which we debated earlier.

Children who require state care are among the most vulnerable in society, and, as evidenced in other places, their life chances are not the same as those for children who have not been in care. Key statistics that are recognised by the Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety show that only one in 10 school leavers who have been in care achieve five or more GCSEs at grade A to C, compared with three in five for school leavers who have not been in care; children who have been in care are 10 times more likely to leave school without any qualifications; looked-after children aged 10 and over are 10 times more likely to be cautioned or convicted for a criminal offence; care leavers are six times more likely to be unemployed than school leavers who have not been in care; and more than 25% of women who have been in care become pregnant before their twentieth birthday.

Clearly, there is great cause for concern, and it is fair to say that the current situation does not offer much hope for the 2,500 children who are currently in the care system.

Research and consultation with young people who have experienced care paints a picture of instability, insecurity and, often, isolation. Frequent placement and school moves, ever-changing professional input and a lack of support to deal with the traumatic experiences of their childhoods have all been voiced as key issues by that group of young people.

It is against that backdrop that my party welcomes the consultation paper, ‘Care Matters in Northern Ireland – A Bridge to a Better Future’, that the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety published in March. It goes beyond the Westminster Green Paper, ‘Care Matters’, and sets out a challenging vision of how Members might improve the outcomes for children in care and, more importantly, for those who are on the fringes of needing care and their parents.

The document was produced by various Government Departments and has proposals that transcend children’s pathways through the care system. The proposals also dovetail with forthcoming legislation and policy on adoption and with the Children (Leaving Care) Act (Northern Ireland) 2002, which was passed by the previous Assembly.

The consultation document considers how family support measures for children on the edge of care could be improved and makes radical proposals to restructure social services to facilitate early intervention, therapeutic support and new ways to work with families. The document also makes interesting proposals for specialist foster parents, with links to residential units, and for lead individuals to ensure improved health and education outcomes for children in care. For looked-after children, there are useful proposals that are designed to ensure that they have the best opportunities while in care and during outside activities.

The document seeks to improve safeguards for looked-after children through innovative proposals to reform the independent visitor role and to ensure that the new health and social services trusts and trust boards exercise corporate responsibility. That is particularly welcome. In addition, there are proposals to enhance opportunities for children in school and further education.

I appreciate that the document is subject to consultation and that that will limit what the Minister can say and the commitments that he can make. However, ‘Care Matters in Northern Ireland – A Bridge to a Better Future’ is innovative and challenging and has been well received. Members will be glad to know that it is not controversial. Although many of the proposals can be implemented without resources, others require funding. I seek assurances from the Minister and wish to hear his Department’s thinking on how outcomes for those children will be taken forward.

Before doing that, I wish to put down a marker about the funding of family and childcare services in general. During the last debate, the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety said that the mental-health service was a Cinderella service. I go further, and say that services for children and young people are the Cinderella services of the Department. Therefore, I ask that the Minister gives an assurance that the funding for childcare services will not be cut back and that additional money will be provided.

For some time, it has been documented and accepted that spending on family and childcare services in Northern Ireland has been low in comparison to the average figure in England.

Recently published figures from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for the year 2004-05 put average personal and social services spending per capita at £287 in the North, compared to £402 in England — a large gap that features year after year in previous comparisons.

(Mr Deputy Speaker [Mr Molloy] in the Chair)

The considerable investment in the children’s fund and, more lately, in the children and young people’s funding package has been extremely welcome, but we are seeking to implement policies such as Care Matters from an unacceptably low baseline. That matter has been recognised by the Children’s Commissioner, and Sinn Féin looks forward to receiving a copy of the research on funding of family and children’s services by the Department of Finance and Personnel and NICCY. Hopefully, that will underline the need for investment in Care Matters and other services to families and children.

Does the Minister agree that work should begin on the implementation of that agenda, particularly now that proposals do not require funding? Will he seek to appoint a task force to advance those proposals?

Given the creation of five new super-trusts — one with 22,000 staff — will the Minister also assure the House that boards will exercise their responsibility for corporate parenting as a matter of priority? Is the Minister prepared to write to the chief executives and chairpersons of the five new trusts to emphasise that point?

I am conscious that I have only a few minutes. I have a number of questions for the Minister, and I will write to him if need be.

Will the Minister advise the Health Committee on developments at the end of the consultation period at the earliest opportunity? Will he confirm that he intends to ensure that the measures included in the family support strategy — which are important because of their relevance to Care Matters — are funded from the children and young people’s funding package? Will the Minister confirm that the recently announced £4 million for family support will continue beyond 2007-08?

The Care Matters consultation paper is silent on the issue of funding. How will the Department resource the strategy, and what is its estimation of the cost of the full implementation of the proposal? Will the Minister offer a guarantee that, within the Programme for Government and funding bids for his Department, he will ensure that this strategy gets a high priority?

The Minister showed great enthusiasm during his speech, but the Assembly has formed similar strategies in the past. I thank the Minister for his interest in this matter, and I will listen carefully to his response. I hope that we will soon be able to demonstrate much-improved outcomes for children and young people, particularly those in care, and I hope that the consultation document and this debate act as a bridge to a better future.

I beg to move the following amendment: Insert after “Assembly”

“encourages the Northern Ireland Executive to make the protection of vulnerable members of society one of its key objectives, and”

It has been said that a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. Going by Northern Ireland statistics, that is not very well, particularly in relation to looked-after children. Positive outcomes for that group have been unacceptably low. Protecting the most vulnerable members of society should be a prime focus for the new Executive.

Some 9% of looked-after children of school age were suspended from school in 2002-03, compared to 1·7% of the total school population of Northern Ireland. A further 1·7% of school-age children were expelled in 2002-03 — slightly higher than the figure for the same group in England, which was 1·1%, and much higher than the rate among the total school population in Northern Ireland. Some 22% of the 1,263 school-age children who are looked after by local trusts in Northern Ireland at 30 September 2003 had a statement of special educational needs, compared with 27% of the same group in England, and 4% of the total school population in Northern Ireland.

The proportion of care-leavers achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A to C compares very badly at 11% with that of all Northern Ireland school-leavers, 59% of whom attain such grades.

Care-leavers in Northern Ireland are in general 10 times more likely than school-leavers to leave care without gaining any qualifications. Indeed, 51% of all care-leavers left care without gaining any qualifications, compared to 5% of all Northern Ireland school-leavers. Only 11% of young people left care having gained five or more GCSEs at grades A to C, and a further 26% left with one to four GCSEs, grades A to C, in 2002-03.

Some 57% of the care-leavers whose economic activities were known were involved in education, training or employment. That compares poorly to the figure of 91% for all 16-18 year olds in Northern Ireland. Ten per cent of the 986 looked-after children aged 10 and over in Northern Ireland were cautioned or convicted in 2002 and 2003, compared to 10% of looked-after children in England and 1% of all children in Northern Ireland. Of those who were convicted, nearly 66% — almost two thirds — were boys.

The ‘Care Matters’ strategy is an innovative and far-reaching document that goes beyond its English equivalent. The estimated costs of implementing its recommendations are in the region of £30 million to £40 million over three years. That seems to be an enormous sum, but it must be weighed against improving children’s lives and achieving better outcomes where reducing pregnancies and improving mental health and social functioning are concerned. It is argued that many of the proposals will not require any funding; rather, political will and leadership from the DHSSPS and other Government bodies will be necessary. Given that the Department has not committed to resourcing the strategy, I do not understand why it has included it in its bids. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say about the subject.

I thank the Members who moved the motion. I can speak on the subject with some personal knowledge, as I am a registered foster carer.

Given the enormity of the situation, few people have a good understanding of it. There are 2,436 looked-after children, 53% of whom have been looked after for more than three years. Administrators of social services must ask the key question: what is best for the children? We should all should identify with that. However, I question a system that keeps children in care for many years without their being adopted to make them a permanent part of a family.

Most children are fortunate enough to have significant adults in their lives: parents, family members and teachers. All act as mentors and role models, and, occasionally, advocates. Not every child is fortunate enough to develop those relationships, but every child in care should be facilitated so that they can have that type of mentor. Not only will that person offer befriending, support and advice to young people, he or she will do so from a position of independence from the care system.

I understand that social services in England and Wales have a duty to provide an independent visitor for every child in care who has had little contact with their birth parents. Those visitors are often volunteers who offer a befriending service for children who have infrequent contact with their parents. The visitors’ role is set out in The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and regulations.

The potential to develop that role goes beyond children’s contact with their parents. Children could be provided with an independent source of advice and encouragement, and, where a child wishes, advocacy. Research on children in care has shown how much they value the role of the independent visitor. It is vital that all children experience stability and permanence in their family. Those factors facilitate positive attachments and resilience and provide the basis for a transition to independent living and adulthood.

Most children are provided with a stable family life by the family into which they are born. However, we need to be proactive in supporting children without immediate family or wider networks by finding families to provide consistent care for them. Where children cannot be adequately cared for, it is imperative that the authorities move swiftly to restore their sense of permanence, security and normality by giving them an alternative family environment.

Thankfully, for many children care is a positive experience. Foster carers and staff in residential units devote a lot of energy and commitment to the children whom they look after. However, we know that some children in care have a different experience. Sadly, too many find themselves in placements that do not meet their needs. In 2002-03, over 20% of all children who had been looked after for more than a year had changed placement at least once. Fourteen per cent had changed placement only once, 3% twice, and 4% three times or more. We know that the lack of permanence and stability in the lives of children and young people in care can contribute to poor educational attainment, low-self esteem, and disruptive and challenging behaviour, leading some of them into conflict with the law.

In Government documents, we often see pleasant phrases such as “child centred planning approaches” or:

“tools such as lifestyles planning, mapping and pathways” .

Let me be clear: none of those things can compare with the real love and stability of a permanent home and family. Many children remain in care throughout their childhood up until the age of 17 or 18, at which stage they need to become self-reliant. I make a plea for Government officials to become more proactive.

I welcome this strategy. It proposes many radical changes that are long overdue. The strategy sets out a comprehensive and holistic package of proposals addressing the problems that children in care in Northern Ireland may suffer from. We have many children who are not in school, who have mental health problems, who have alcohol or drug problems, or who are teenage parents or young offenders. Put simply, that is unacceptable and needs to change.

The strategy has sound principles: family support, partnership and a multidisciplinary approach. The underpinning vision of the strategy is to reduce the number of children and young people in care by 20% and to improve outcomes for young people in care, so that we at least double the proportion of care-leavers who are in employment, education or training at age 19. Yet, while targets are important, we must remember that sometimes a care placement is the best place for certain children at certain points in their lives.

In Northern Ireland, there is a lack of high-quality foster and residential carers — that is not to take away from the excellent carers that we do have, but we need to encourage more people to take on this demanding but extremely worthwhile role. Being a carer is a very challenging task and it is something that requires support. Proper, up-to-date training needs to be provided for carers — training in communication, in managing bad behaviour and, indeed, in encouraging and nurturing the young people and showing them affection. Improvements in training for residential carers and in the general standards of care homes are long overdue.

There is important research on the value of kinship and keeping siblings together, but, again, the proper support, training, financial support and monitoring need to be in place. The strategy outlines the importance of care plans for children who are in care. I believe that the role and purpose of the care plans need to be clarified and made more user-friendly.

It is important that the children are involved. The issue of advocacy has already been mentioned and it is certainly addressed in the consultation document as well. A good example of children’s advocacy, VOYPIC — the voice of young people in care — is mentioned. That should be developed further.

Questions of implementation and resourcing are rightly highlighted in the motion, and they need to be addressed to bring this strategy forward. At all times the child’s needs must be put first, and confidentiality for the child is paramount. Many social care professionals working on the ground with children in care have expressed their concerns that confidentiality of the child’s private life is essential if their trust is to be retained.

The strategy also emphasises the need for specialist training for professionals in the field. Social care workers, health professionals and professionals in the education and library boards require proper training in how to deal confidentially with the complex needs of children in care.

A key message in the Care Matters strategy is early intervention. That is particularly important for children who are at the edge of care. Early intervention can pay off. Sometimes the resources will have to be redirected to preventative services so that social care provision can focus on this rather than crisis management.

Education is also addressed in the strategy. Health is mentioned too, although I would like there to have been more focus on this, especially on mental health. I am very supportive of the objectives of the strategy; namely, to improve the outcomes for children in care — children who are the most vulnerable in our society. Lastly, evidence suggests that insufficient joined-up working has caused some of the barriers to improvements across relevant authorities — both statutory and voluntary. There now exists an opportunity for a fresh start.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Care Matters strategy, which aims to improve outcomes for children, is a vitally important part of what this Government is about. If the Government exist to do anything for people in our society, it must be to protect and defend the weakest and most vulnerable members of that society. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that these measures are adopted and taken forward.

The whole process needs to be much more streamlined. For example, the average time from care to an adoption order was three years and 10 months during 2003-04; a wholly unacceptable delay in a child’s life.

Much of the Government policy actually works against, and prevents, the spirit of the idea of placing children permanently with families as early in their lives as possible. Many children in care are moved in excess of 12 times in the first six years of their lives. There needs to be an immediate overhaul, not only of the social services procedure but of the legal process, to streamline bureaucracy and red tape in order to place these young children.

I know from my discussions with my Friend and party colleague, the new Minister, how vitally important he accepts his role to be in this respect. He wants to get in and actually break this cycle of school expulsions, low academic achievement, unemployment, unplanned pregnancy and low self-esteem; and to replace hopelessness, and in some cases real individual human tragedy, with a sense of hope.

Therefore, I have no difficulty in supporting the motion.

It could be said that there is a general assumption that when children are taken into care, their lives are back on track and that they have, in a way, been rescued. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is only the beginning of the story.

In my own constituency, it is evident that in the case of older children, the same problematic behaviour displayed in their natural home is still very prominent in their care facility — be it a statutory place of care or a foster home.

It is easier to assume that there could be something of a strain within them that naturally gives rise to their bad behaviour, non-compliance and their generally obvious talent for antisocial behaviour. However, the sad fact is that long before these children reached the clutches of our social services, many of them lived a life of fear in an environment filled with disrespect, poverty and general misguidance. Others arrived there, perhaps, through poor parental health or marital problems. They are simply visitors to the system and manage to leave relatively unscathed.

Surely the main aim of our care system should be to attempt to repair whatever damage has been done and help instil the care and respect that these children have been denied, in order to help redirect their lives and nurture a positive experience while they are in care. Unfortunately, this is not the case in many instances, and the experience becomes one that is fraught with difficulties, misconceptions and general failure — failure by those charged with the caring role to care in the true sense of the word. The stigma attached to being in care can be a huge barrier to a child’s well-being and self-image.

We need to do more to improve the very heart and soul of care. The effects of the review of public administration (RPA) — which could for a time destabilise and structurally challenge many statutory bodies charged with delivering the very core of looked-after services — will have a huge impact on how those improvements to care can be achieved.

Many looked-after children’s lives have been marked by uncertainty and disrespect, and many have been largely ignored, with their feelings and opinions undervalued for years. Is it any wonder that they do not know how to communicate with anything other than defensiveness? Their entire mental and physical being must be convinced that they have worth and that, more importantly, someone cares enough to allow them to establish a firm foundation that they can build upon to form an approach to adulthood that will benefit them and those around them. In a fast-changing world, we need long-term solutions — not quick fixes and then a hop, skip and jump onto the next casualty of life. Positive, sustained and valuable support after the rescue is vital.

The transition from childhood to adulthood is a rocky road for those making the journey with the support of their family. So, a child in the care system needs to get information and advice such as that education is important and parenthood is no bed of roses. The latter is a hard and thankless task in many instances. Good mental and physical health is essential and the wisdom to know when to ask for help is vital, something that the young people themselves identified. They want to know when the time is right for them to ask for help. Those are only a few of life’s lessons that every child needs to learn – and learn before he finds himself sitting in the middle of all the difficulties trying hard to climb back out.

Many of our young people leaving, or who have just left, the care system find themselves in those situations almost immediately. Teenage parenthood is the most common scenario for those either in care or just leaving it. It is my fervent hope, as a mother and a grandmother, that the pending strategy will make a difference to the lives of those thousands either in the system or teetering on the edge of it. Furthermore, I hope that the Minister charged with the responsibility of Health, Social Services and Public Safety will take the opportunity to ensure that it is properly implemented in conjunction with all the relevant statutory bodies so that it will be effective in real time and not effective in one area and totally non-existent in others. A holistic approach is our only hope to give vital help to those who need it and to show them that this will not be a piecemeal approach but a real and honest attempt to give them back their self-respect, while teaching them how to live a safe, peaceful and happier life than, perhaps, they were used to.

Minister, I wish you well in the job that you have undertaken. It will not be an easy one. I hope that you will see that this strategy is one that will be very effective for the good of all our young people.

Go raibh míle maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim mo bhuíochas leat as an deis labhartha a thabhairt domh ar an cheist thábhachtach seo na bpáistí atá faoi chúram altramais. Ós rud é gurb é seo an chéad uair domh ag labhairt agus tú féin sa Chathaoir, déanaim comhghairdeas leat as ucht do cheapacháin chuig ard-oifig LeasCheann Comhairle agus guím gach rath ort sa todhchaí.

Tá suim ar leith agam sa cheist seo ar dhá ábhar: sa chéad dul síos, is múinteoir scoile mé; agus sa dara cás, is tuismitheoir altramais mé. Ar an dá ábhar sin, tá suim ar leith agam sa cheist seo.

I have a special interest in this issue, as I am a teacher and a registered foster carer. Looked-after children are among the most vulnerable pupils in the education system, as other Members have said, and they need, deserve and have the right to the best possible education that our system can provide.

Unfortunately our education system has not served those children well, and there is much room for improvement. I support the view that our approach to the education of looked-after children must be firmly child centered, and that home, school, social services and out-of-school activities should work in a co-ordinated way to ensure the maximum emotional, physical and intellectual growth of those young people.

I accept that many looked-after children are doing extremely well in the education system, and I welcome that very much. However, I am deeply concerned that at the other end of the scale there are young people who feel, and, indeed, are, alienated from the education system. It is also a cause for concern that looked-after children are more likely to underachieve and underperform, and are disproportionately represented in statistics for expulsion, suspension and poor attendance.

One of the key elements in supporting looked-after children is ensuring that they have permanence in home and school placement.

The fostering achievement scheme, which is unique in the UK, has benefited from the children and young people’s fund. The scheme has been effective in supporting young people in ways that enhance their educational development, improve their self-confidence and esteem, and help them in tackling basic difficulties in literacy and numeracy. It is important that the scheme should be expanded to include younger children and young people leaving care.

I referred to permanence earlier, and the system should endeavour to ensure that young people have permanence in the future. Where appropriate, fostering should become adoption, as was mentioned by Mary Bradley.

The fostering achievement scheme has helped to empower foster carers to become educational advocates for the children in their care. Statistics show that many foster carers are, like myself, in the 40 to 60 age range — and I will not reveal to which end of the scale I am closest. Many foster carers are no longer au fait with the changes in the education system since they attended school. The teaching of the basics in education has changed so much, and fosters carers must be kept abreast of those changes if they are to support fully the children. They must be made aware of curriculum changes at primary and post-primary level if they are to be the strongest possible advocates for the education of children in their care. If foster carers are familiar with the education system, they will know better what they can do to help and support those children.

When foster carers are supported to engage with schools as strong advocates for their children, as other parents do, the children can only benefit.

Time.

I hope that in future, the fostering and achievement scheme will be expanded as I have outlined, a LeasCheann Comhairle.

I have been very lenient on time, as this is a very serious subject.

It is only right that children should be a key priority for the Executive. That was touched on in the previous debate. People are our greatest asset, and children are a key part of that. My Department has special responsibility for 2,500 children in care and 1,600 children on the child protection register. I am particularly aware, therefore, of the duty that we have to meet the needs of children and young people, many of whom also have difficulties or mental health problems.

We have a statutory responsibility to children and young people through our laws, and also through our commitments to international standards such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our special responsibility to children in care requires that we should strive to provide the best possible care. Our expectations for them should be the same as they are for our own children.

I want to see young people sitting at the heart of the Executive’s wider programmes to tackle the problems faced by the most vulnerable groups in our society, including the children, young people and families whose needs the Care Matters strategy is designed to meet.

Outcomes for children in care are often poor in comparison to their peers. Sue Ramsey said that they are one of the most vulnerable groups in society; she has never spoken a truer word. Such young people, who often do not have their mothers and fathers to defend them or speak for them and do not have their wider family group to look after them, are the most vulnerable among the vulnerable.

Common problems include poor educational attainment, conflict with the law, high likelihood of being the victim of a crime, low self-esteem, poor job prospects, greater risk of mental health problems, uncertainty about the future and numerous placements in foster care or children’s homes. Recently, one agency told me about an eight-year-old who had had 41 placements in his short life. The instability that that creates for a child is horrendous.

We need to develop new approaches in order to dramatically improve the lives and outcomes of this particularly vulnerable group. An imminent joint report will highlight the fact that children’s services in Northern Ireland have been underfunded, historically, in comparison with Great Britain. That issue will inform this debate, and I call on all Members to support me in ensuring that the disparity in funding is addressed as a matter of urgency. We need to provide necessary and sustained investment, right across Government, to support Northern Ireland’s most vulnerable children and families.

Through Care Matters we have a unique opportunity to tackle these issues at every level. The document outlines a radical new approach to developing and enhancing services with a view to improving the lives of looked-after children. This is the start of a process that will significantly improve services for children in care. I will do all that I can to ensure that we deliver the best possible services for vulnerable children and young people in Northern Ireland. The Care Matters strategy provides us with a very positive starting point.

There are three key pillars of Care Matters: first, to prevent children from coming into care by improving family support services; secondly, to improve the quality of life in the residential care or foster care setting; and, thirdly, to prepare children to leave care. One of the problems that we have seen is that children leave care at 18. The average age for children leaving home in Northern Ireland is 22, but this most vulnerable group are on their own at 18.

That is one example of the problems that the strategy must address. It will make a real difference to all children in care, who are entitled to the same opportunities in life as children with parents.

The strategy sets out a number of ambitious goals, including reducing the number of children and young people in care by 20% from around 2,500 to 2,000, and increasing the proportion of care leavers who are in education, employment or training at age 19 to at least 80%. Again, the numbers are tragically low in that area.

When the Care Matters strategy was launched in March it received widespread support and endorsement from key local stakeholders, including Barnardo’s, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and Children in Northern Ireland (CiNI). By working in partnership with such groups, we can deliver a strategy that will work and that will, ultimately, improve the lives of children in care.

The proposals are centred on six main areas: strengthening support to families and children at risk of being taken into care while ensuring that children are properly protected; ensuring that children who come into care are in the right placement and have stable placements, be that in foster care or children’s homes; ensuring that the new trusts have the necessary arrangements in place to act as corporate parents for children in care; improving education opportunities for children in care; providing children in care with opportunities to take part in activities outside school and care; and strengthening support to young people leaving care, as they make the transition to adulthood.

Sue Ramsey was assiduous in asking me questions, but she will have to put them in writing because I caught only a few of them. Some £4 million has been set aside for family support, but that is for 2007-08 only, and further funding will have to be bid for as part of the comprehensive spending review process in order to mainstream the funding beyond March 2008. The comprehensive spending review provides us with opportunities under a three-year budget and Programme for Government, but a commitment has to be included in the spending review otherwise the opportunity will be lost.

I was asked about corporate parenting, and that is included in the six key areas identified in the proposals.

I was also asked about the adoption strategy, ‘Adopting the Future’. It has been consulted upon and new legislation will be brought forward. Funding is needed to improve the adoption services, including post-adoption support services. The new adoption strategy will make it easier to place prospective adoptees with adopters more quickly.

Those are some of the points that were raised, but I did not catch all of them. Members will have to write to me with any other questions, and I will happily reply or talk to them.

The Care Matters strategy is very much the start of the process. It is an excellent illustration of departmental collaboration. This is not just a matter for the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety; it concerns other Departments, too. It involves the Department of Education and the Department for Employment and Learning, working closely with staff in the trusts, the education service, careers service and further and higher education establishments to improve outcomes for children in care.

The document has been published for consultation to start discussions on issues that affect children in care. As part of this consultation process, we are arranging, in partnership with the voluntary sector, specific events targeted at children and young people to ensure that we maximise their opportunity to have their say. It is not simply a matter of adults discussing the future of children in care; it is vital that we listen to and learn from their experiences. When we have considered all the views of the stakeholders, we will be able to finalise this important policy.

I was asked about the funding implications of the Care Matters strategy. As with all funding matters, funding for the strategy will be considered by the Department and a bid will be submitted to the Executive as part of the Programme for Government and comprehensive spending review considerations.

The holistic approach outlined in the document requires the support of a number of Departments, and I hope that I will be able to enjoy the full support of my colleagues in taking it forward.

I have listened with interest to the views expressed here today. The Care Matters strategy contains proposals designed to deliver long-term fundamental reform of services for children in care, and it is essential that we get it right. They are one of the most vulnerable groups in society and they have been sadly neglected over generations.

Dealing with their problems, and the issues and challenges involved, is vital. If that does not happen then the cycle will be self-perpetuating. That will be tragic because every instance represents one young life — and every single life is precious. That is why the Care Matters strategy is so important.

I am happy to give the winding-up speech on the amendment. Bringing the motion and the amendment together will cement what we are all here to achieve for the people we represent.

Statistics on children who are coming out of care are very scary. Those young people, who are in care through no fault of their own, are six times more likely to experience a teenage pregnancy; 10 times more likely to leave education with no qualifications, and are less likely to carry on to full-time education than other children.

The questions are: why are those awful statistics happening in what is supposed to be a modern country; why are children leaving care at the age of 18 to go on the dole and not into training or employment; why are they less likely to involve themselves in community activities such as sport and drama, and how can the failures that have been permitted for so long be justified? The answer to the final question is that those failures cannot be justified.

Changes can be made through taking small yet significant steps, and it is up to Members to begin the process by ensuring that the reforms set out in the Care Matters strategy are implemented fully and as soon as possible. We must at least double the number of children in care who carry on to higher education. They are just as capable as other children, given the opportunity, but they have not had the same encouragement as those from more suitable and satisfactory home lives.

Considering that up to 10% of children in care have had 10 different social workers during their time in care, it is easy to see how any encouragement to stay at school carries little weight with them. Those children have not had the chance to bond with, or develop a respect for, the person who has been working with them before that person has been moved on. There must be continuity of care to enable workers to get to know the children and gain their respect so that in conversations about the future, each child feels that the person they are talking to understands their capabilities, whether it be attending university or doing a plumbing course. Such encouragement would form a large part in getting past the mentality of worthlessness that is, unfortunately, so prevalent to those in care at present.

Up to 40% of children are in inappropriate care — that must change as a matter of urgency. In addition, a large part of the problem is that children leave care at the age of 18, and, as the Minister said, other children normally remain at home until the age of 22 and are encouraged to do the right thing, to get that job and perhaps, promotion.

The fact that children coming out of care are left to get on with their lives at the age of 18 cannot continue — a future-care programme must be established. I welcome that the Minister has responded positively, and Members will be monitoring his progress on the issue.

The Care Matters strategy is worthy because it means that steps will be taken to ensure that the statistics highlighted will never again be seen in Northern Ireland and that funding will ensure that there is a high level of accountability throughout the system. Members must remember that these are not simply statistics, they represent the lives of the children of our Province who have done nothing wrong and who deserve a better start to their adult lives than the current abandonment that they are faced with at present.

The proposed team must be asked to: track the progress of looked-after children in education; deal with all referrals of looked-after children with regard to concerns about attendance; prepare, maintain and monitor the implementation of the personal education plan for each looked-after child; liaise with the child’s school and provide training for social services, foster carers, staff in residential settings and school staff.

Training and support must be developed for foster carers, whom I admire. They deserve credit for what they do, and training and materials must be there to help equip them. The benefits of training must be actively marketed. Foster carers and key workers need more training in child development.

Other Members have spoken of the need for everyone to work together. A child’s personalised education plan must include input from foster carers and key workers as well as the assigned member of the looked-after children team. The policy of extending alternative education placements beyond the compulsory school-leaving age, particularly for young people in care, should be considered.

Care Matters offers a comprehensive package for improving outcomes for children in care. It will not be easy for the Assembly, but we must take the first tentative steps towards ensuring that improvements in those children’s daily lives actually take place.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. As we have heard, Care Matters sets out a framework in which we can adapt and enhance the rights of children in care or on the verge of going into care. Care Matters is an excellent framework for action, and though we all have some reservations — I particularly share those outlined by Sue Ramsey — we want Care Matters to be a live strategy with clear, time-bound, costed actions as soon as possible.

As cited in the 2006 children’s strategy by the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister, the Assembly has committed itself to the overarching goals that children and young people should be healthy, have opportunities to learn and achieve, and live in safety and with stability. They should have experience of economic and environmental well-being and live in a society that respects their rights.

Sadly, as we have heard, for too many children this is not the case. Only today Save the Children has launched a report, which says that 100,000 children are living in poverty in the North. It is important that we give children and young people the support and care that they need to reach their full potential. To hear of one child being placed 41 times is nothing short of horrendous. Children and young people in care are being looked after by the state; they must want for nothing. Those children deserve the best-quality care, delivered by highly trained professionals.

There should be no equivocation about this. There should be no corner-cutting or arguments about budgets. As Sue Ramsey and other Members have said, the Care Matters strategy has been passed to the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, and we ask him to fast-track the implementation of its recommendations. As has already been said, that will require cross-departmental actions, as well as investment. We will raise these and some other issues with the relevant Departments and with businesses both North and South. We need the assistance of agencies such as the Children’s Law Centre and other youth justice organisations in order to implement the Care Matters strategy.

We must ensure that not just some, but all the children of the nation are cherished equally. I support the motion and the amendment. Go raibh maith agat.

Question, That the amendment be made, put and agreed to.

Main Question, as amended, put and agreed to.

Resolved:

That this Assembly encourages the Northern Ireland Executive to make the protection of vulnerable members of society one of its key objectives, and calls upon the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to set out his plans to improve the outcomes for children “looked after” by the state and for the implementation and resourcing of the Care Matters Strategy.

Adjourned at 5.09 pm.