The Care Experiences Programme: Collaboration with Tusla - Child and Family Agency:

The Care Experiences Programme is led by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) in collaboration with Tusla as a key partner.

Tusla - Child and Family Agency is the dedicated State agency in Ireland responsible for improving wellbeing and outcomes for children through child protection, early intervention and family support services.

Tusla - Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility to protect children and promote their welfare under both the Child Care Act, 1991 (Section 3) and the Child and Family Act 2013 (Section 8). Tusla is currently structured to deliver services across 17 service areas, located within six regions. Services include Child Protection and Welfare, Alterative Care, Family Support, Adoption, Education Support Services, Counselling and Therapeutic Supports, Domestic Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Children’s Service Regulation.

The Agency responds to children, families, and communities across a continuum of response pathways, which are designed to promote consistent and integrated responses, to ensure that children, young people, and families receive the right response, at the right time in the right place from the right service.

The Agency is committed to ensuring that where children are safe, children and young people are supported to live at home with their families, close to their friends, their school and within their own communities.

However, there are times when it is no longer safe for a child or young person to stay living at home and they are taken into the care of the state (Alternative Care). Tusla has a statutory responsibility to provide Alternative Care services under the provision of the Child Care Act, 1991, the Children Act, 2001 and the Child Care (Amendment) Act, 2007. The Agency is committed to the principle that the family affords the best environment for raising children and the objective of external intervention should be to support families within the community. More information about Tusla services is available on the Tusla website.

The Care Experiences Programme encompasses representation from key Tusla personnel across its governance and advisory structures, such as the Steering Committee and the Stakeholder Advisory Group.

The purpose of the collaboration with Tusla is to ensure that the actions advised or required by the Programme Team are co-ordinated and implemented across both the DCEDIY and Tusla for the successful implementation of Programme goals.

A dedicated Tusla Coordinator Post is planned for 2024. This post will be bi-located in the DCEDIY and the National Research Office, Tusla. This post will support the Programme by managing the research requirements and facilitating coordination, communication, and collaboration of proposed actions or requirements within Tusla and between Tusla and the Care Experiences Programme Team. The post will also facilitate reporting between Tusla and DCEDIY.

As the Care Experiences Programme develops, and where appropriate, specific expertise from other key Tusla personnel may be required by the Programme Team and Steering Committee to focus on specific aspects of the Programme.