Tracing and tracking of children subject to a special care application.

摘要

This report, for the first time, endeavours to improve our understanding of what happens to children who have been referred to special care. In setting out the parameters of the study we were particularly keen to consider the outcomes not only for those who entered special care but also to explore what happened to those children who were not considered to have met the admission criteria.ududThis study is not an end in itself, but rather contributes significantly to the debate which needs to be held about the future shape of child care services in Ireland. We cannot assume that the current system is ‘good enough’. It is over ten years since an alternative approach to special care and high support was recommended by the group who established Rath na nÓg. It is only now that this approach is about to be advanced. But even this may not be the right way. Alongside the development of services it is critical that an ongoing process of evaluation of effectiveness is introduced. The system needs to be clear about what it expects from its different services and to establish processes to ensure that those expectations are being met consistently.