Care Experiences: Journeys through the Irish care system

The publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the Ryan Report 2009), gave rise to a detailed implementation plan agreed by Government. Action 65 of the plan stated that:

Following on from a brief scoping paper in 2013 on putting this action into effect, Tusla commissioned a feasibility study, with financial support from the then Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The report from this study provided an overview of the need for longitudinal research for children in care / leaving care in Ireland and set out preliminary options for developing such a project (Devaney and Rooney 2018).

In 2020, DCEDIY established a Working Group comprising representatives from DCEDIY and Tusla to explore in more detail how best to address data and research needs in this area and to make a recommendation to the Minister, taking account of the feasibility study, other relevant literature and more recent developments in this area since 2009.

On 26 January 2022, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, announced the commencement of a new Research and data project examining the lives of children in care and adults who were in care as children. This project will address the Ryan Report Implementation Plan recommendation for longitudinal research with young people leaving care as well as other related research and data needs. The Minister's announcement is detailed in a press release issued in January 2022.

A briefing event for stakeholders was held by DCEDIY in late January 2022, which provided more detail on the project. The presentation provided at that event is available below.

The project is being led by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) with Tusla as a key partner. Currently the project consists of four constituent elements:

1. The ongoing development of the capacity of the Tusla Case Management: Child Protection, Alternative Care (TCM CPAC) system (formerly the National Child Care Information System (NCCIS)) to dynamically track the individual pathways of children through the care system;

2. A cross-sectional study of those who left care ten years ago to generate data quickly on the long term outcomes for those who leave care and the lessons arising;

3. A longitudinal study of children in care from the age of 16, which will take place over a ten year period;

4. Further bespoke research studies on children in care and aftercare where more detailed information is needed about their circumstances. This will complement improved system data and each of the other elements in the project.

The first major research study as part of the Care Experiences Project, to seek the views of care experienced young adults has been announced (26th October 2023)

A milestone new study will explore experiences of young adults who have left the Irish care system as part of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth’s Project: “Care Experiences, Journey’s through the Irish Care System”. The Department has commissioned Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with the University of Sussex, to carry out a research study to explore the experiences and outcomes of young adults who left the Irish care system approximately ten years ago in the aftermath of the Ryan Report. This study will gather the views and experiences of adults who have lived in the Irish care system, to shed light on how the care leaving process unfolds over time and the factors, events and experiences that influence pathways and outcomes.

Please see the Press Release for more details

This project was previously referred to as the Research and Data Project examining the lives of children in care and adults who were in care as children. As of July 2023, the Care Experienced Expert Panel have chosen a new title: Care Experiences: Journeys through the Irish care system.

A Steering Committee for the project has been established. This Committee comprises representatives from Tusla, the Health Service Executive, Central Statistics Office, and several government departments such as: Department of Health; Department of Education; Department of Justice; Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

The purpose of the Steering Committee is to have strategic oversight of the project and key decisions to be made by the project team. It will also facilitate relevant government departments and public bodies with the opportunity to provide focused, high level advice and guidance to the project team. Members of the Steering Committee will be able to keep their own agencies and departments up to date with developments in the project.

A Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) has also been established comprising a range of people involved in the alternative care sector. It includes representatives from Tusla, Empowering Young People in Care (EPIC), Focus Ireland, the Children’s Rights Alliance (CRA), the Office of the Ombudsman for Children (OOC), Social Care Ireland, the Irish Foster Care Association (IFCA), Jigsaw, International and Irish academics and others. It is also planned that two care experienced young people will join the group. The Stakeholder Advisory Group is chaired by Ms Jillian van Turnhout.

The purpose of the Stakeholder Advisory Group is to provide strategic cross-sectoral expertise and advice on key decisions and also to facilitate academics, organisations, public bodies and service users with the opportunity to provide focused, high level advice and guidance to the project team.

Following a recruitment campaign and information event in May 2023, twelve young people have been selected to become part of the Care Experiences Project’s first Care Experienced Expert Panel (CEEP). The first official meeting of the CEEP will take place in the Department on 25th October.

The purpose of the CEEP is to provide advice and expertise on specific elements of the project to ensure its implementation, progress and outcomes are relevant to children in care and young adults with care experience.

Over the summer a sub-group of the new CEEP members came together with members of the Project Team to develop a website and brand identity for the Project and, as mentioned above, they developed the Project’s new title.

The Project’s new website will go live on November 9th.

Children in Care and Young Adults Leaving Care: a literature review of Irish research

The DCEDIY/Tusla Working Group recommended the need for a focused literature review to support its deliberations and to help inform the future development of research in this area as recommended to the Minister.

The review was compiled by Dr Clare Farrell, DCEDIY, with input from Working Group members. It was guided by four key questions:

• what do we know from Irish empirical research about conducting research with or about children and young people who are or have been in care?
• what do we know from this research about their experiences and outcomes, and the factors associated with these experiences and outcomes?
• to what extent have the voices of children and young people themselves been heard in this research?
• what key lessons for future research arise from these issues?

The primary focus of the review was on published empirical Irish research, particularly over the last ten years, relating to the care system, children in care, young people using aftercare services and young people who have left care.

The literature review was published on 28 March.