Review of the Child Care Act 1991

In April 2023, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth received Government approval for the drafting of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2023.

The Bill, when enacted, will revise and update the 1991 Act to better reflect changes in child welfare and protection services in Ireland in the 30 years since enactment of the 1991 Act, as well as capture current legislative, policy and practice developments.

The Bill will also revise and update Part VIIA of the 1991 Act, which covers the regulation of early learning and childcare services.

The General Scheme of the Bill can be found here. Heads and General Scheme of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2023

Some of the most significant areas of change are as follows:

• Introduction of a guiding principles section to the Act, with the best interests of the child as the overriding principle.
• Introduction of a duty to cooperate between relevant bodies, such as Tusla, Government Departments, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and An Garda Síochána (AGS). This cooperation will include the sharing of information between relevant bodies and Tusla, and with each other, in accordance with the law and as necessary and proportionate.
• The voice of the child is to be strengthened both in court proceedings and in decisions taken outside the court setting by introducing a principle that children should be able to participate in the decision-making process.
• Amendments to Section 3 of the Child Care and to Children First Act 2015 related to assessments of reports of harm.
• Amendments to existing rules for Supervision Orders, Interim Care Orders, Care Orders, Emergency Care Orders and Voluntary Care Agreements.
• Amendments to Part VIIA to allow Tusla Early Years Inspectorate to immediately close unregistered early learning and childcare services, to temporarily suspend registered services where there are concerns about significant risk to children, to share information on enforcement action with parents, to place some additional enforcement measures on a legislative footing, and to introduce a “Fit Person” regulation. See Report on a Public Consultation on a Review of Regulations for Early Learning and Care

The 1991 Act is a wide-ranging piece of legislation which, at its core, seeks to promote the welfare of children who may not receive adequate care and protection.

The legislation covers the following main areas:

• promotion of welfare of children, including the relevant functions of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency
• protection of children in emergencies, including section 12 which governs the powers of An Garda Síochána to take a child to safety
• care proceedings, including the different types of care orders which can be made by a court
• children in need of special care or protection
• private foster care
• jurisdiction and procedure, including provisions for the appointment of a guardian ad litem for a child
• children in the care of the Child and Family Agency
• supervision of preschool services and
• children’s residential centres

Read the legislation.

In Better Outcomes Brighter Futures – The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020 the Government committed to ‘review and reform as necessary, the Child Care Act 1991.’

The purpose of the review is to:

• Identify what is working well within the legislation including its impact on policy and practice
• Address any identified gaps, operational improvements and new areas for development
• Capture current legislative, policy and practice developments
• Building on those steps, revise the original legislation

Please note that the reform of current Guardian ad Litem arrangements (under section 26 of the 1991 Act) is being progressed separately to this review. See further details on the reform of Guardian ad litem arrangements in child care proceedings.

The Department has consulted extensively with stakeholders to collect their views on the legislation including through a call for written submissions and a number of consultation events. This included extensive engagement with Tusla on subjects covered by the 1991 Act.

In September 2017, the Department held an Open Policy Debate where the implementation of the current Act was discussed with reference to three key themes: supporting families and children, listening to the voice of children and inter-agency work. The report of the day, as prepared by an independent rapporteur, is available here.

In 2018 the Department received a large number of submissions as part of a written consultation process. In their submissions stakeholders were invited to comment and make recommendations on the main parts of the Act, as well as on any new parts that they wished to propose. Responses to this consultation are available here.

In 2018, the Department also sought the views of Tusla staff and management on what aspects of the legislation are working well and what needs improvement. Following consultation with Tusla frontline staff on initial proposals, and a seminar on reforming child care proceedings with a selected group of stakeholders, there was a focussed stakeholder workshop on foster care, followed by regional events on the same topic.

In 2020, the Department consulted the views of children and young people who have experienced interventions under the 1991 Act.

In 2020, the Department also held an online consultation inviting comments on a number of initial proposals to amend the legislation. View the responses received.

As part of the Review process the Department has also been represented on the informal working group convened by the Department of Justice on the development of Family Court reform and has provided input on the draft Heads of Bill. The Review itself and our feedback on Family Court reform has also been informed by research the Department commissioned on reforming child care proceedings that was completed in June 2019.

This section contains links to useful reference documents on the review of the Child Care Act 1991:

• Child Care Act 1991 (Consolidated version – Law Reform Commission)
• Explanatory memo – Child Care Bill 1988